HALF  A   CENTURY. 


JAKE  GEEY  SWISSHELM. 

l\ 


*       *       *         God  so  willed : 
Mankind  is  ignorant!  a  man  am  I: 
Call  ignorance  my  sorrow,  not  my  sin!" 

*       *       "O,  still  as  ever  friends  are  they 
Who,  in  the  interest  of  outraged  truth 
Deprecate  such  rough  handling  of  a  lie!" 

ROBERT  BROWNING. 


CHICAGO: 

JANSEN,  McCLURG  &  COMPANY. 
1880. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1880,  by 

J.  G.   SWISSHELM, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


STEREOTYPED,   PRINTED  AND   BOUND 

BY 
THE    CHICAGO    LEGAL    NEWS    COMPANY. 


PEEFAOE. 


IT  HAS  been  assumed,  and  is  generally  believed,  that 
the  Anti-slavery  struggle,  which  culminated  in  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  of  1862,  originated  in 
Infidelity,  and  was  a  triumph  of  Skepticism  over  Chris 
tianity.  In  no  way  can  this  error  be  so  well  corrected 
as  by  the  personal  history  of  those  who  took  part  in 
that  struggle;  and  as  most  of  them  have  passed  from 
earth  without  leaving  any  record  of  the  education  and 
motives  which  underlay  their  action,  the  duty  they 
neglected  becomes  doubly  incumbent  on  the  few  who 
remain. 

To  supply  one  4uota  of  the  inside  history  of  the 
great  Abolition  war,  is  the  primary  object  of  this 
work;  but  scarcely  secondary  to  this  object  is  that  of 
recording  incidents  characteristic  of  the  Peculiar  In 
stitution  overthrown  in  that  struggle. 

Another  object,  and  one  which  struggles  for  prece 
dence,  is  to  give  an  inside  history  of  the  hospitals  dur 
ing  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  that  the  American  people 
may  not  forget  the  cost  of  that  Government  so  often 
imperiled  through  their  indifference. 


4:  PKEFACE. 

A  tliird  object,  is  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  ground 
which  produced  the  "Woman's  Rights  agitation,  and 
the  causes  which  limited  its  influence. 

A  fourth  is,  to  illustrate  the  force  of  education  and 
the  mutability  of  human  character,  by  a  personal  nar 
rative  of  one  who,  in  1836,  would  have  broken  an  en 
gagement  rather  than  permit  her  name  to  appear  in 
print,  even  in  the  announcement  of  marriage;  and 
who,  in  1850,  had  as  much  newspaper  notoriety  as  any 
man  of  that  time,  and  was  singularly  indifferent  to 
the  praise  or  blame  of  the  Press; — of  one  who,  in  18 37, 
could  not  break  the  seal  of  silence  set  upon  her  lips  by 
"  Inspiration,"  even  so  far  as  to  pray  with  a  man  dy 
ing  of  intemperance,  and  who  yet,  in  1862,  addressed 
the  Minnesota  Senate  in  session,  and  as  many  others 
as  could  be  packed  in  the  hall,  with  no  more  embar 
rassment  than  though  talking  with  a  friend  in  a  chim 
ney  corner.  J.  G.  S. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

v  XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 


PAGE 

I  FIND  LIFE, 7 

PROGRESS  IN  CALVINISM,  HUNT  GHOSTS,  SEE  LA  FAYETTE, 

FATHER'S  DEATH, 18 

Go  TO  BOARDING  SCHOOL, 21 

LOSE  MY  BROTHER, 29 

JOIN  CHURCH,  AND  MAKE  NEW  ENDEAVORS  TO  KEEP  SABBATH,  34 

DELIVERER  OF  THE  DARK  NIGHT 38 

FITTING  MYSELF  INTO  MY  SPHERE 47 

HABITATIONS  OF  HORRID  CRUELTY, 51 

KENTUCKY  CONTEMPT  FOR  LABOR CO 

REBELLION, &> 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHADOW  OF  DEATH       ....  68 

"  LABOR— SERVICE  OR  ACT," 72 

SWISSVALE, 74 

WILLOWS  BY  THE  WATER-COURSES 78 

THE  WATERS  GROW  DEEP, 80 

MY  NAME  APPEARS  IN  PRINT, 87 

MEXICAN  WAR  LETTERS, 91 

TRAINING  SCHOOL -  ...  97 

EIGHTS  OF  MARRIED  WOMEN, 101 . 

PITTSBURG  SATURDAY  VISITER,          105 

RECEPTION  OF  THE  VISITER, 112 

MY  CROOKED  TELESCOPE, 115 

MINT,  CUMMIN  AND  ANNIS, 120 

FREE  SOIL  PARTY 121 

VISIT  WASHINGTON,           124 

DANIEL  WEBSTER, 131 

FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW— THE  Two  RIDDLES,          .       .       .  13G 
BLOOMERS  AND  WOMAN'S  RIGHTS  CONVENTIONS,     .       .       .139 

MANY  MATTERS 145 

THE  MOTHER  CHURCH, 150 

POLITICS  AND  PRINTERS,           .       .       .       .      .      .       .  155 

SUMNER,  BURLINGAME  AND  CASSIUS  M.  CLAY,       ...       .       .  158 

FINANCE  AND  DESERTION, 162 

MY  HERMITAGE 170 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXXVI.  THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR,        .......  171 

XXXVII.  ANOTHER  VISITOR, 178 

XXXVIII.  BORDER  RUFFIANISM 181 

XXXIX.  SPEAK  IN  PUBLIC, 185 

XL.  A  FAMOUS  VICTORY .189 

XLI.  STATE  AND  NATIONAL  POLITICS, 196 

XLII.  RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSIES, 202 

+-XLIII.  FRONTIER  LIFE, 205 

XLIV.  PRINTERS, 209 

XLV.  THE  REBELLION, 211 

XLVI.  PLATFORMS, 214 

XL VII.  OUT  INTO  THE  WORLD  AND  HOME  AGAIN,      ....  217 

XLVIIL  THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  THE  WEST, 223 

XLIX.  THE  INDIAN  MASSACRE  OF  '62, 228 

L.  A  MISSIVE  AND  A  MISSION, 233 

LI.  No  USE  FOR  ME  AMONG  THE  WOUNDED,        ....  238 

LII.  FIND  WORK,     . 243 

UII.  HOSPITAL  GANGRENE, 251 

v  LIV.  GET  PERMISSION  TO  WORK, 253 

v    LV.  FIND  A  NAME 255 

LVL  DROP  MY  ALIAS, 261 

LVII.  HOSPITAL  DRESS, 264 

LVIII.  SPECIAL  WORK, 266 

LIX.  HEROIC  AND  ANTI-HEROIC  TREATMENT,         ....  269 

LX.  COST  OF  ORDER, 274 

LXI.  LEARN  TO  CONTROL  PYJEMIA, 279 

LXII.  FIRST  CASE  OF  GROWING  A  NEW  BONE 281 

LXIII.  A  HEROIC  MOTHER, 287 

LXIV.  Two  KINDS  OF  APPRECIATION 289 

LXV.  LIFE  AND  DEATH, 295 

LXVI.  MEET  Miss  Dix  AND  GO  TO  FREDERICKSBURG,        ...  300 

LXVII.  THE  OLD  THEATER, 306 

LXVIII.  AM  PLACED  IN  AUTHORITY, -314 

LXIX.  VISITORS, 317 

LXX.  WOUNDED  OFFICERS, 322 

LXXI.  "  Now  I  LAY  ME  DOWN  TO  SLEEP," 325 

LXXII.  MORE  VICTIMS  AND  A  CHANGE  OF  BASE,    .       ,       ...  329 

LXXIII.  PRAYERS  ENOUGH  AND  TO  SPARE, 335 

LXXIV.  GET  OUT  OF  THE  OLD  THEATER,         ......  338 

/-  LXXV.  TAKE  BOAT  AND  SEE  A  SOCIAL  PARTY,         ....  311 

LXXVI.  TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FREDERICKSBURG,       ....  344 

/•LXXVII.  TRY  TO  GET  UP  A  SOCIETY  AND  GET  SICK,     ....  354 

LXXVIII.  AN  EFFICIENT  NURSE,          357 

LXXIX.  Two  FREDERICKSBURG  PATIENTS, 358 

LXXX.  AM  ENLIGHTENED, 360 

CONCLUSION.  362 


HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER    I. 

I  FIND  LIFE. 

THOSE  soft  pink  circles  which  fell  upon  my  face  and 
hands,  caught  in  my  hair,  danced  around  my  feet,  and 
frolicked  over  the  billowy  waves  of  bright,  green  grass 
— did  I  know  they  were  apple  blossoms?  Did  I  know 
it  was  an  apple  tree  through  which  I  looked  up  to  the 
blue  sky,  over  which  white  clouds  scudded  away  toward 
the  great  hills?  Had  I  slept  and  been  awakened  by 
the  wind  to  find  myself  in  the  world  ? 

It  is  probable  that  I  had  for  some  time  been  famil 
iar  with  that  tree,  and  all  my  surroundings,  for  I  had 
been  breathing  two  and  a  half  years,  and  had  made 
some  progress  in  the  art  of  reading  and  sewing,  say 
ing  catechism  and  prayers.  I  knew  the  gray  kitten 
which  walked  away;  knew  that  the  girl  who  brought 
it  back  and  reproved  me  for  not  holding  it  was  Ada- 
line,  my  nurse;  knew  that  the  young  lady  who  stood 
near  was  cousin  Sarah  Alexander,  and  that  the  girl  to 
whom  she  gave  directions  about  putting  bread  into  a 
brick  oven  was  Big  Jane;  that  I  was  Little  Jane,  and 
that  the  white  house  across  the  common  was  Squire 
Horner's. 

(7) 


*  8  "  *  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

There  was  no  surprise  in  anything  save  the  loveli 
ness  of  blossom  and  tree;  of  the  grass  beneath  and  the 
sky  above;  and  this  first  indelible  imprint  on  my  mem 
ory  seems  to  have  found  this  inner  something  I  call 
me,  as  capable  of  reasoning  as  it  has  ever  been. 

"While  I  sat  and  wondered,  father  came,  took  me  in 
his  loving  arms  and  carried  me  to  mother's  room, 
where  she  lay  in  a  tent-bed,  with  blue  foliage  and  blue 
birds  outlined  on  the  white  ground  of  the  curtains, 
like  the  apple-boughs  on  the  blue  and  white  sky.  The 
cover  was  turned  down,  and  I  was  permitted  to  kiss  a 
baby-sister,  and  warned  to  be  good,  lest  Mrs.  Damp- 
ster,  who  had  brought  the  baby,  should  come  and  take 
it  away.  This  autocrat  was  pointed  out,  as  she  sat  in 
a  gray  dress,  white  'kerchief  and  cap,  and  no  other  po 
tentate  has  ever  inspired  me  with  such  reverential 
awe. 

My  second  memory  is  of  a  "  great  awakening  "  to 
a  sense  of  sin,  and  of  my  lost  and  undone  condition. 
On  a  warm  summer  day,  while  walking  alone  on  the 
common  which  lay  between  home  and  Squire  Homer's 
house,  I  was  struck  motionless  by  the  thought  that  I 
had  forgotten  God.  It  seemed  probable,  considering 
the  total  depravity  of  my  nature,  that  I  had  been 
thinking  bad  thoughts,  and  these  I  labored  to  recall, 
that  I  might  repent  and  plead  with  Divine  mercy  for 
forgiveness.  But  alas!  I  could  remember  nothing 
save  the  crowning  crime — forgetfulness  of  God. 

I  seemed  to  stand  outside,  and  see  myself  a  mere 
mite,  in  a  pink  sun-bonnet  and  white  bib,  the  very 
chief  of  sinners,  for  the  probability  was  I  had  been 
thinking  of  that  bonnet  and  bib.  It  was  quite  certain 


I  FIND  LIFE.  9 

that  God  knew  my  sin;  and  ah,  the  crushing  horror 
that  I  could,  by  no  possibility  conceal  aught  from  the 
All-seeing  Eye,  while  it  was  equally  impossible  to  win 
its  approval.  The  Divine  Law  was  so  perfect  that  I 
could  not  hope  to  meet  its  requirements — the  Divine 
Law-giver  so  alert  that  no  sin  could  escape  detection. 

Under  that  cloud  of  doom  the  sunshine  grew  dark, 
and  I  did  not  dare  to  move  until  a  cheery  voice  called 
out  something  about  my  pretty  bonnet,  and  gave  me 
a  sense  of  companionship  in  this  dreadful,  dreadful 
world.  Rose,  a  large  native  African,  had  spoken  to 
me  from  her  place  in  Squire  Homer's  kitchen,  and  1 
went  home  full  of  solemn  resolves  and  sad  forebod 
ings. 

This  is  probably  what  evangelists  would  call  my 
conversion,  and  it  came  in  my  third  summer.  There 
was  a  fire  in  the  grate  when  mother  showed  Dr.  Robt. 
"Wilson,  our  family  physician,  a  pair  of  wristbands 
and  collar  I  had  stitched  for  father,  and  when  they 
spoke  of  me  as  not  being  three  years  old — but  then  I 
had  in  my  mind  the  marks  of  that  "great  awakening." 

To  me,  no  childhood  was  possible  under  the  training 
this  indicates,  yet  in  giving  that  training,  my  parents 
were  loving  and  gentle  as  they  were  faithful.  Believ 
ing  in  the  danger  of  eternal  death,  they  could  but 
guard  me  from  it,  by  the  only  means  of  which  they 
had  any  knowledge. 

Before  the  completion  of  that  momentous  third 
year  of  life,  I  had  learned  to  read  the  New  Testament 
readily,  and  was  deeply  grieved  that  our  pastor  played 
"patty  cake"  with  my  hands,  instead  of  hearing  me 
recite  my  catechism,  and  talking  of  original  sin.  Dur- 


10  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ing  that  winter  I  went  regularly  to  school,  where  I 
was  kept  at  the  head  of  a  spelling-class,  in  which  were 
young  men  and  women.  One  of  these,  Wilkins  Me- 
Nair,  used  to  carry  me  home,  much  amused,  no  doubt, 
by  my  supremacy.  His  father,  Col.  Dunning  McNair, 
was  proprietor  of  the  village,  and  had  been  ridiculed 
for  predicting  that,  in  the  course  of  human  events, 
there  would  be  a  graded,  McAdamized  road,  all  the  way 
from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  and  that  if  he  did  not 
live  to  see  it  his  children  would.  He  was  a  neighbor 
and  friend  of  Wm.  Wilkins,  afterwards  Judge,  Secre 
tary  of  "War,  and  Minister  to  Russia,  and  had  named 
his  son  for  him.  When  his  prediction  was  fulfilled 
and  the  road  made,  it  ran  through  his  land,  and  on  it 
he  laid  out  the  village  and  called  it  Wilkinsburg.  Mr. 
McNair  lived  south  of  it  in  a  rough  stone  house — the 
manor  of  the  neighborhood — with  half  a  dozen  slave 
huts  ranged  before  the  kitchen  door,  and  the  gateway 
between  his  grounds  and  the  village,  as  seen  from  the 
upper  windows  of  our  house,  was,  to  me,  the  boundary 
between  the  known  and  the  unknown,  the  dread  por 
tal  through  which  came  Adam,  the  poor  old  ragged 
slave,  with  whom  my  nurse  threatened  me  when  I  did 
not  do  as  she  wished.  He  was  a  wretched  creature, 
who  made  and  sold  hickory  brooms,  as  he  dragged  his 
rheumatic  limbs  on  the  down  grade  of  life,  until  he 
found  rest  by  freezing  to  death  in  the  woods,  where  he 
had  gone  for  saplings. 

I  was  born  on  the  6th  of  December,  1815,  in  Pitts- 
burg,  on  the  bank  of  the  Monongahela,  near  its  con 
fluence  with  the  Allegheny.  My  father  was  Thomas 
Cannon,  and  my  mother  Mary  Scott;  They  were 


I  FIND  LIFE.  11 

both  Scotch -Irish  and  descended  from  the  Scotch  Re 
formers.  On  my  mother's  side  were  several  men  and 
women  who  signed  the  "Solemn  League  and  Cove 
nant,"  and  defended  it  to  the  loss  of  livings,  lands  and 
life.  Her  mother,  Jane  Grey,  was  of  that  family 
which  was  allied  to  royalty,  and  gave  to  England  her 
nine  day's  queen. 

This  grandmother  I  remember  as  a  stately  old  lady, 
quaintly  and  plainly  dressed,  reading  a  large  Bible  or 
answering  questions  by  quotations  from  its  pages. 
She  was  unsuspicious  as  an  infant,  always  doubtful 
about  "actual  transgressions"  of  any,  while  believing 
in  the  total  depravity  of  all.  Educated  in  Ireland  as 
an  heiress,  she  had  not  been  taught  to  write,  lest  she 
should  marry  without  the  consent  of  her  elder  brother 
guardian.  She  felt  that  we  owed  her  undying  grati 
tude  for  bestowing  her  hand  and  fortune  on  our  grand 
father,  who  was  but  a  yoeman,  even  if  "  he  did  have 
a  good  leasehold,  ride  a  high  horse,  wear  spurs,  and 
have  Hamilton  blood  in  his  veins."  She  made  us  fa 
miliar  with  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  and  the  sufferings 
in  Londonderry,  in  both  of  which  her  great-grand 
father  had  shared,  but  was  incapable  of  that  sectarian 
rancor,  which  marks  so  many  descendents  of  the  men 
who  met  on  those  fields  of  blood  and  fought  for  their 
convictions. 

In  April,  1816,  father  moved  from  Pittsburg  out  to 
the  new  village  of  Wilkinsburg;  took  with  him  a  large 
stock  of  goods,  bought  property,  built  the  house  in 
which  I  first  remember  him,  and  planted  the  apple 
tree  which  imprinted  the  first  picture  on  my  memory. 
But  the  crash  which  followed  the  last  war  with  Eng- 


12  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

land  brought  general  bankruptcy;  the  mortgages  on 
Col.  McNair's  estate  made  the  titles  valueless,  and 
this,  with  the  fall  of  his  real  estate  in  Pittsburg,  re 
duced  father  to  poverty,  from  which  he  never  recovered. 


CHAPTEK    II. 

PEOGEESS  IN  CALVINISM — HUNT  GHOSTS — SEE  LA  FAYETTE. 

—AGE,  6-9. 

MY  parents  were  members  of  the  Covenanter  Con 
gregation,  of  which  Dr.  John  Black  was  pastor  for 
forty-five  years.  He  was  a  man  of  power,  a  profound 
logician,  with  great  facility  in  conveying  ideas.  To 
his  pulpit  ministrations  I  am  largely  indebted  for 
whatever  ability  I  have  to  discriminate  between  truth 
and  falsehood;  but  the  church  was  in  Pittsburg,  and 
our  home  seven  miles  away,  so  we  seldom  went  to 
meeting.  The  rules  of  the  denomination  forbade  "  oc 
casional  hearing.''  Father  and  mother  had  once  been 
"  sessioned  "  for  stopping  on  their  way  home  to  hear 
the'  conclusion  of  a  communion  service  in  Dr.  Bruce's 
church,  which  was  Seceder.  So  our  Sabbaths  were 
usually  spent  in  religious  services  at  home.  These  I 
enjoyed,  as  it  aided  my  life-work  of  loving  and  think 
ing  about  God,  who  seemed,  to  my  mind,  to  have  some 
special  need  of  my  attention.  Nothing  was  done  on 
that  day  which  could  have  been  done  the  day  before, 
or  could  be  postponed  till  the  day  after.  Coffee  grind 
ing  was  not  thought  of,  and  once,  when  we  had  no 
flour  for  Saturday's  baking,  and  the  buckwheat  cakes 
were  baked  the  evening  before  and  warmed  on  Sab- 


PROGRESS  IN  CALVINISM.  13 

bath  morning,  we  were  all  troubled  about  the  violation 
of  the  day* 

There  was  a  Presbyterian  "meeting-house"  two 
miles  east  of  Wilkinsburg,  where  a  large,  wealthy  con 
gregation  worshipped.  Rev.  James  Graham  was  pas 
tor,  and  unlike  other  Presbyterians,  they  never  "  pro 
faned  the  sanctuary"  by  singing  "  human  composi 
tions,"  but  confined  themselves  to  Rouse's  version  of 
David's  Psalms,  as  did  our  own  denomination.  This 
aided  that  laxness  of  discipline  which  permitted  Big 
Jane,  Adaline  and  brother  William  to  attend  some 
times,  under  care  of  neighbors.  Once  I  was  allowed 
to  accompany  them. 

I  was  the  proud  possessor  of  a  pair  of  red  shoes, 
which  I  carried  rolled  up  in  my  'kerchief  while  we 
walked  the  two  miles.  We  stopped  in  the  woods ;  my 
feet  were  denuded  of  their  commonplace  attire  and  ar 
rayed  in  white  hose,  beautifully  clocked,  and  those 
precious  shoes,  and  my  poor  conscience  tortured  about 
my  vanity.  The  girls  also  exchanged  theirs  for  mo 
rocco  slippers.  We  concealed  our  walking  shoes  under 
a  mossy  log  and  proceeded  to  the  meeting-house. 

It  was  built  in  the  form  of  a  T,  of  hewn  logs,  and  the 
whole  structure,  both  inside  and  out,  was  a  combina 
tion  of  those  soft  grays  and  browns  with  which  nature 
colors  wood,  and  in  its  close  setting  of  primeval  forest, 
made  a  harmonious  picture.  Atone  side  lay  a  grave 
yard;  birds  sang  in  the  surrounding  trees,  some  of 
which  reached  out  their  giant  arms  and  touched  the 
log  walls.  Swallows  had  built  nests  under  the  eaves 
outside,  and  some  on  the  rough  projections  inside,  and 
joined  their  twitter  to  the  songs  of  other  birds  and  the 
rich  organ  accompaniment  of  wind  and  trees. 


14:  HALF  A  OENTUBY. 

There  were  two  sermons,  and  in  the  intermission,  a 
church  sociable,  in  fact  if  not  in  name.  Friends  who 
lived  twenty  miles  apart,  met  here,  exchanged  greet 
ings  and  news,  gave  notices  and  invitations,  and  obey 
ed  the  higher  law  of  kindness  under  protest  of  their 
Calvinistic  consciences.  In  this  breathing- time  we 
ate  our  lunch,  went  to  the  nearest  house  and  had  a 
drink  from  the  spring  which  ran  through  the  stone 
milk-house.  It  was  a  day  full  of  sight-seeing  and  of 
solemn,  grand  impressions. 

Of  the  two  sermons  I  remember  but  one,  and  this 
from  the  text  "Many  are  called  but  few  are  chosen," 
and  the  comments  were  Calvinism  of  the  most  rigid 
school.  On  our  way  home,  my  brother  "William — 
three  years  older  than  I — was  very  silent  and  thought 
ful  for  some  time,  then  spoke  of  the  sermon,  of  which 
I  entirely  approved,  but  he  stoutly  declared  that  he  did 
not  believe  it;  did  not  believe  God  called  people  to 
come  to  him  while  he  did  not  choose  to  have  them 
come.  It  would  not  be  fair,  indeed,  he  thought  it 
would  be  mean. 

That  evening,  when  we  were  saying  the  shorter  cat 
echism,  the  question,  "  "What  are  the  decrees  of  God  ?" 
came  to  me,  and  after  repeating  the  answer,  I  asked 
father  to  explain  it — not  that  I  needed  any  explana 
tion,  but  that  William  might  be  enlightened;  for  I 
was  anxious  about  his  soul,  on  account  of  his  skepti 
cism.  Enlightened  he  could  not  be,  and  even  to  father 
expressed  his  doubts  and  disapprobation.  We  re 
newed  the  discussion  when  alone,  and  during  all  his 
life  I  labored  with  him ;  but  soon  found  the  common 
refuge  of  orthodox  minds,  in  feeling  that  those  espe- 


PROGRESS  IN  CALVINISM.  15 

dally  loved  by  them  will  be  made  exceptions  in  the 
general  distribution  of  wrath  due  to  unbelief. 

One  day  I  went  with  him  to  hunt  the  cow.  "We 
came  to  a  wood  just  north  of  the  village,  where  the 
wind  roared  and  shook  the  trees  so  that  I  was  quite 
awe-stricken;  but  he  held  my  hand  and  assured  me 
there  was  no  danger,  until  he  suddenly  drew  me  back, 
exclaiming: 

"  Oh  see!"  as  a  great  tree  came  crashing  down  across 
the  path  before  us,  and  so  near  that  it  must  have  fallen 
on  us  if  he  had  not  seen  it  and  stepped  back.  Even 
then  he  refused  to  go  home  without  the  cow.  and  tak 
ing  up  a  daddy-long-legs,  he  inquired  of  it  where  she 
was,  and  started  in  the  direction  indicated,  when  we 
were  arrested  by  the  voice  of  Big  Jane,  who  had  come 
to  search  for  us. 

On  reaching  home,  we  found  a  new  baby-sister,  Eliz 
abeth.  Soon  after  her  birth,  in  April,  1821,  father 
moved  back  to  Pittsburg,  and  lived  on  Sixth  street, 
opposite  Trinity  Church,  on  property  belonging  to  my 
maternal  grandfather.  There  was  no  church  there  at 
that  time,  but  a  thickly  peopled  graveyard,  which  ad 
joined  that  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the 
corner  of  Sixth  and  Wood.  These  were  above  the 
level  of  the  street,  and  were  protected  by  a  worm-fence 
that  ran  along  the  top  of  a  green  bank  on  which  we 
played  and  gathered  flowers. 

Grandmother  took  me  sometimes  to  walk  in  these 
graveyards  at  night,  and  there  talked  to  me  about  God 
and  heaven  and  the  angels.  I  was  sufficiently  inter 
ested  in  these,  but  especially  longed  to  see  the  ghosts, 
and  often  went  to  look  for  them.  "We  had  a  bachelor 


16  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

uncle  who  delighted  in  telling  us  tales  of  the  super 
natural,  and  he  peopled  these  graveyards  with  ghosts, 
in  which  I  believed  as  implicitly  as  in  the  Revelations 
made  to  John  on  the  Isle  of  Patinos,  which  were  my 
favorite  literature. 

When  the  congregation  concluded  to  abandon  the 
"Round  Church,"  which  stood  on  the  triangle  between 
Liberty,  "Wood  and  Sixth  streets,  and  began  to  dig  for 
a  foundation  for  Trinity,  where  it  now  stands,  there 
was  great  desecration  of  graves.  One  day  a  thrill  of 
excitement  and  stream  of  talk  ran  through  the  neigh 
borhood,  about  a  Mrs.  Cooper,  whose  body  had  been 
buried  three  years,  and  was  found  in  a  wonderful  state 
of  preservation,  when  the  coffin  was  laid  open  by  the 
diggers.  It  was  left  that  the  friends  might  remove  it, 
and  that  night  I  felt  would  be  the  time  for  ghosts.  Bo 
I  went  over  alone,  and  while  I  crouched  by  the  open 
grave,  peering  in,  a  cloud  passed,  and  the  moon  poured 
down  a  flood  of  light,  by  which  I  could  see  the  quiet 
sleeper,  with  folded  hands,  taking  her  last,  long  rest. 

It  was  inexpressibly  grand,  solemn  and  sad.  There 
were  no  gaslights,  no  paved  street  near,  no  one  stir 
ring.  Earth  was  far  away  and  heaven  near  at  hand, 
but  no  ghost  came,  and  I  went  home  disappointed. 
Afterwards  I  had  a  still  more  disheartening  adventure. 

I  had  gone  an  errand  to  cousin  Alexander's,  on  Fifth 
street,  stayed  late,  and  coming  home,  found  Wood 
street  deserted.  The  moon  shone  brightly,  but  on  the 
graveyard  side  were  heavy  shadows,  except  in  the  open 
space  opposite  the  church.  I  was  on  the  other  side, 
and  there  was  the  office  of  the  Democratic  paper,  and 
over  the  door  the  motto  "  Our  country,  right  or 


HUNT  GHOSTS.  IT 

wrong."  This  had  long  appeared  to  be  an  uncanny  spot, 
owing  to  the  wickedness  of  this  sentiment,  and  I  was 
thinking  of  the  possibility  of  seeing  Auld  Nick  guard 
ing  his  property,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  to 
a  tall,  white  figure  in  the  bright  moonlight,  outside  the 
graveyard  fence. 

I  stopped  an  instant,  in  great  surprise,  and  listened 
for  footsteps,  but  no  sound  accompanied  the  motion. 
It  did  not  walk,  but  glided,  and  must  have  risen  out 
of  the  ground,  for  only  a  moment  before  there  was 
nothing  visible.  I  clasped  my  hands  in  mute  wonder, 
but  my  ghost  was  getting  away,  and  to  make  its  ac 
quaintance  I  must  hurry.  Crossing  the  street  I  ran 
after  and  gained  on  it.  It  passed  into  the  shadow  of 
the  engine  house,  on  across  Sixth  street,  into  the  moon 
light,  then  into  the  shadow,  before  I  overtook  it,  when 
lo!  it  was  a  mortal  woman,  barefoot,  in  a  dress  which 
was  probably  a  faded  print.  Most  prints  faded  then, 
and  this  was  white,  long  and  scant,  making  a  very 
ghostly  robe,  while  on  her  head  she  carried  a  bundle 
tied  up  in  a  sheet.  She  had,  of  course,  come  out  of 
Virgin  alley,  where  many  laundresses  lived,  and  had 
just  passed  out  of  the  shadow  when  I  saw  her.  We 
exchanged  salutations,  and  I  went  home  to  lie  and 
brood  over  the  unreliable  nature  of  ghosts. 

I  was  trying  to  get  into  a  proper  frame  of  mind  for 
saying  my  prayers,  but  I  doubt  if  they  were  said  that 
night,  as  we  were  soon  aroused  by  the  cries  of  fire. 
Henry  Clay  was  being  burned,  in  effigy,  on  the  corner 
of  Sixth  and  "Wood  streets,  to  show  somebody's  disap 
proval  of  his  course  in  the  election  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.  The  Democratic  editor,  McFarland,  was  tried 
2 


18  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  found  guilty  of  the  offense,  and  took  revenge  in 
ridiculing  his  opponents.  Charles  Glenn,  a  fussy  old 
gentleman,  member  of  our  church,  was  an  important 
witness  for  the  prosecution,  and  in  the  long,  rhyming 
account  published  by  the  defendant,  he  was  thus  re 
membered  : 

"  Then  in  came  Glenn,  that  man  of  peace, 
And  swore  to  facts  as  sleek  as  grease; 
By  all  his  Uncle  Aleck's  geese, 

McFarland  burnt  the  tar-barrel/ 

It  was  before  this  time  that  Lafayette  revisited 
Pittsbnrg,  and  people  went  wild  to  do  him  honor. 
The  schools  paraded  for  his  inspection,  and  ours  was 
ranged  along  the  pavement  in  front  of  the  First  Pres 
byterian  church,  the  boys  next  the  curb,  the  girls  next 
the  fence,  all  in  holiday  attire,  and  wearing  blue 
badges.  The  distinguished  visitor  passed  up  between 
them,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  another  gentleman,  bow 
ing  and  smiling  as  he  went.  When  he  came  to  where 
I  stood,  he  stepped  aside,  laid  his  hand  on  my  head, 
turned  up  my  face  and  spoke  to  me. 

I  was  too  happy  to  know  what  he  said,  and  in  all 
the  years  since  that  day,  that  hand  has  lain  on  my 
brow  as  a  consecration. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

FATHER'S  DEATH. — AGE,  6-12. 

IN  the  city  we  went  regularly  to  meeting,  and  Dr. 
Black  seemed  always  to  talk  to  me,  and  I  had  no  more 
difficulty  in  understanding  his  sermons,  than  in  mas- 


FATHER'S  DEATH.  19 

fcering  the  details  of  the  most  simple  duty.  The  first 
of  which  I  preserve  the  memory  was  about  Peter,  who 
was  made  to  illustrate  the  growth  of  crime.  He  began 
with  boasting;  then  came  its  natural  fruit,  cowardice,  in 
following  his  master  afar  off;  next  falsehood,  and  from 
this  he  proceeded  to  perjury.  It  oUd  seem  that  a 
disciple  of  Christ  could  go  no  further;  but  for  false 
hood  and  perjury  there  might  be  excuse  in  the  hope 
of  reward,  and  Peter  found  a  lower  deep,  for  "  he  began 
to  curse  and  to  swear."  A  profane  swearer  is  without 
temptation,  and  serves  the  devil  for  the  pure  love  of 
the  service.  What  more  could  Peter  do  to  prove  that 
he  knew  not  Jesus? 

In  the  communion  service  is  a  ceremony  called 
"  fencing  the  tables,"  which  consists  of  an  appeal  to  the 
consciences  of  intended  communicants.  Dr.  Black  be 
gan  with  the  first  commandment  and  forbade  those 
living  in  its  violation  to  come  to  the  table,  and  so  pro 
ceeded  through  the  decalogue.  "When  he  came  to  the 
eighth,  he  straightened  himself,  placed  his  hands  be 
hind  him,  and  with  thrilling  emphasis  said,  ';  I  debar 
from  this  holy  table  of  the  Lord,  all  slave-holders  and 
horse-thieves,  and  other  dishonest  persons,"  and  with 
out  another  word  passed  to  the  ninth  commandment. 

Soon  after  we  returned  to  the  city,  sister  Mary  died 
of  consumption,  and  father's  health  began  to  fail.  I 
have  preserved  the  spinning  wheel  on  which  mother 
converted  flax  yarn  into  thread,  which  she  sold  to  aid 
in  the  support  of  the  family,  but  soon  the  entire  bur 
den  fell  on  her,  for  father's  illness  developed  into  con 
sumption,  from  which  he  died  in  March,  1823. 

In  spite  of  all  the  testamentary  precautions  he  could 


20  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

take,  whatever  of  his  estate  might  have  been  available 
for  present  support,  was  in  the  hands  of  lawyers,  and 
mother  was  left  with  her  children  and  the  debts.  There 
were  the  contents  of  his  shop  and  warehouse,  some 
valuable  real  estate  in  Pittsburg,  which  had  passed  out 
of  his  possession  on  a  claim  of  ground-rent,  and  a 
village  home  minus  a  title. 

William  was  a  mechanical  genius,  so  mother  set  him 
to  making  little  chairs,  which  he  readily  sold,  but  he 
liked  better  to  construct  fire  engines,  which  were  quite 
wonderful  but  brought  no  money.  He  had  a  splendid 
physique,  was  honorable  and  faithful,  and  if  mother 
had  been  guided  by  natural  instinct  in  governing  him, 
all  would  have  been  well;  but  he  never  met  the  re 
quirements  of  the  elders  of  the  church,  who  felt  it  their 
duty  to  manage  our  family  affairs.  So  he  was  often 
in  trouble,  and  I,  who  gloried  in  him,  contrived  to 
shield  him  from  many  a  storm. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  fashionable  furor  for  lace 
work.  Mother  sent  me  to  learn  it,  and  then  procured 
me  pupils,  whom  I  taught,  usually  sitting  on  their 
knee.  But  lace  work  soon  gave  way  to  painting  on 
velvet.  This,  too,  I  learned,  and  found  profit  in  selling 
pictures.  Ah,  what  pictures  I  did  make.  I  reached 
the  culminating  glory  of  artist  life,  when  Judge 
Braden,  of  Butler,  gave  me  a  new  crisp  five  dollar  bill 
for  a  Goddess  of  Liberty.  Indeed,  he  wanted  me  to 
be  educated  for  an  artist,  and  was  far-seeing  and  gen 
erous  enough  to  have  been  my  permanent  patron,  had 
an  artistic  education,  or  any  other  education,  been  pos 
sible  for  a  Western  Pennsylvania  girl  in  that  dark 
age — the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


Go   TO    BOAKDING    SCHOOL.  21 

Mother  made  a  discovery  in  the  art  of  coloring  leg 
horn  and  straw  bonnets,  which  brought  her  plenty  of 
work,  so  we  never  lacked  comforts  of  life,  although 
grandfather's  executors  made  us  pay  rent  for  the  house 
we  occupied. 


CHAPTEE    IY. 

GO  TO  BOARDING-SCHOOL. — AGE,  12. 

DURING  my  childhood  there  were  no  public  schools 
in  Pennsylvania.  The  State  was  pretty  well  supplied 
with  colleges  for  boys,  while  girls  were  permitted  to 
go  to  subscription  schools.  To  these  we  were  sent 
part  of  the  time,  and  in  one  of  them  Joseph  Caldwell, 
afterwards  a  prominent  missionary  to  India,  was  a 
schoolmate.  But  we  had  Dr.  Black's  sermons,  full  of 
grand  morals,  science  and  history. 

In  lieu  of  colleges  for  girls,  there  were  boarding- 
schools,  and  Edgeworth  was  esteemed  one  of  the  best 
in  the  State.  It  was  at  Braddock's  Field,  and  Mrs. 
Olever,  an  English  woman  of  high  culture,  was  its 
founder  and  principal.  To  it  my  cousin,  Mary  Alex 
ander,  was  sent,  but  returned  homesick,  and  refused  to 
go  back  unless  I  went  with  her.  It  was  arranged  that 
I  should  go  for  a  few  weeks,  as  I  was  greatly  in  need 
of  country  air;  and,  highly  delighted,  I  was  at  the 
rendezvous  at  the  hour,  one  o'clock,  with  my  box, 
ready  for  this  excursion  into  the  world  of  polite  litera 
ture.  Mary  was  also  there,  and  a  new  scholar,  but 
Father  Olever  did  not  come  for  us  until  four  o'clock. 
He  was  a  small,  nervous  gentleman,  and  lamps  were 


22  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

already  lighted  in  the  smoky  city  when  we  started  to 
drive  twelve  miles  through  spring  mud,  on  a  cloudy, 
cheerless  afternoon.  We  knew  he  had  no  confidence 
in  his  power  to  manage  those  horses,  though  we  also 
knew  he  would  do  his  best  to  save  us  from  harm ;  but 
as  darkness  closed  around  us,  I  think  we  felt  like  babes 
in  the  woods,  and  shuddered  with  vague  fear  as  much 
as  with  cold  and  damp.  "When  we  reached  the  "  Bul 
lock  Pens,"  half  a  mile  west  of  Wilkinsburg,  there 
were  many  lights  and  much  bustle  in  and  around  the 
old  yellow  tavern,  where  teamsters  were  attending  to 
their  weary  horses.  Here  we  turned  off  to  the  old 
mud  road,  and  came  to  a  place  of  which  I  had  no  pre 
vious  knowledge — a  place  of  outer  darkness  and  chat 
tering  teeth. 

We  met  no  more  teams,  saw  no  more  lights,  but 
seemed  to  be  in  an  utterly  uninhabited  country.  Then, 
after  an  hour  of  wearisome  jolting  and  plunging,  we 
discovered  that  the  darkness  had  not  been  total,  for 
the  line  of  the  horizon  had  been  visible,  but  now  it 
was  swallowed  up.  "We  knew  we  were  in  a  wood,  by 
the  rush  of  the  wind  amid  the  dried  white  oak  leaves 
— knew  that  the  road  grew  rougher  at  every  step — 
that  our  driver  became  more  nervous  as  he  applied  the 
brake,  and  we  went  down,  down. 

Still  the  descent  grew  steeper.  "We  stopped,  and 
Father  Clever  felt  for  the  bank  with  his  whip  to  be 
sure  we  were  on  the  road.  Then  we  heard  the  sound 
of  rushing,  angry  waters,  mingled  with  the  roar  of  the 
wind,  and  he  seemed  to  hesitate  about  going  on,  but 
we  could  not  very  well  stay  there,  and  he  once  more 
put  his  horses  in  motion,  while  we  held  fast  and  prayed 


Go  TO  BOARDING  SCHOOL.  23 

silently  to  the  great  Deliverer.  After  stopping  again 
and  feeling  for  the  bank,  lest  we  should  go  over  the 
precipitous  hillside,  which  he  knew  was  there,  he  pro 
ceeded  until,  with  a  great  plunge,  we  were  in  the  an 
gry  waters,  which  arose  to  the  wagon-bed,  and  roared 
and  surged  all  around  us.  The  horses  tried  to  go  on, 
when  something  gave  way,  and  our  guardian  concluded 
further  progress  was  impossible,  and  began  to  hallo  at 
the  top  of  his  voice. 

For  a  long  time  there  was  no  response;  then  came 
an  answering  call  from  a  long  distance.  Next  a  light 
appeared,  and  that,  too,  was  far  away,  but  came  to 
ward  us.  When  it  reached  the  brink  of  the  water, 
and  two  men  with  it,  we  felt  safe.  The  light-bearer 
held  it  up  so  that  we  saw  him  quite  well,  and  his  pecu 
liar  appearance  suited  his  surroundings.  He  was 
more  an  overgrown  boy  than  a  man,  beardless,  with  a 
long  swarthy  face,  black  hair  and  keen  black  eyes. 
He  wore  heavy  boots  outside  his  pantaloons,  a  blouse 
and  slouch  hat,  spoke  to  his  companion  as  one  having 
authority,  and  with  a  laugh  said  to  our  small  gentle 
man: 

"  Is  this  where  you  are  ? "  but  gave  no  heed  to  the 
answer  as  he  waded  in  and  threw  off  the  check  lines, 
saying:  "I  wonder  you  did  not  drown  your  horses." 

He  next  examined  the  wagon,  paying  no  more  atten 
tion  to  Father  Olever's  explanations  than  to  the  water 
in  which  he  seemed  quite  at  home,  and  when  he  had 
finished  his  inspection  he  said: 

"  They  must  go  to  the  house,"  and  handing  the  light 
to  the  driver  he  took  us  up  one  by  one  and  carried  us 
to  the  wet  bank  as  easily  as  a  child  carries  her  doll. 


24  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

He  gave  some  directions  to  his  companion,  took  the 
light  and  said  to  us: 

"  Come  on,"  and  we  walked  after  him  out  into  the 
limitless  blackness,  nothing  doubting.  "We  went  what 
seemed  a  long  way,  following  this  brigand-looking 
stranger,  without  seeing  any  sign  of  life  or  hearing  any 
sound  save  the  roar  of  wind  and  water,  but  on  turning 
a  fence  corner,  we  came  in  sight  of  a  large  two-story 
house,  with  a  bright  light  streaming  out  through  many 
windows,  and  a  wide  open  door.  There  was  a  large 
stone  barn  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  and  to  this 
our  conductor  turned,  saying  tons:  "Go  on  to  the 
house."  This  we  did,  and  were  met  at  the  open  door 
by  a  middle-aged  woman,  shading  with  one  hand  the 
candle  held  in  the  other.  This  threw  a  strong  light 
on  her  face,  which  instantly  reminded  me  of  an  eagle. 
She  wore  a  double-bordered  white  cap  over  her  black 
hair,  and  looked  suspiciously  at  us  through  her  small 
keen,  black  eyes,  but  kindly  bade  us  come  in  to  a  low 
wainscoted  hall,  with  broad  stairway  and  many  open 
doors.  Through  one  of  these  and  a  second  door  we 
saw  a  great  fire  of  logs,  and  I  should  have  liked  to  sit 
by  it,  but  she  led  us  into  a  square  wainscotted  room 
on  the  opposite  side,  in  which  blazed  a  coal  fire  almost 
as  large  as  the  log  heap  in  the  kitchen. 

She  gave  us  seats,  and  a  white-haired  man  who  sat 
in  the  corner,  spoke  to  us,  and  made  me  feel  comfort 
able.  Up  to  this  time  all  the  surroundings  had  had 
an  air  of  enchanted  castles,  brigands,  ghosts,  witches. 
The  alert  woman  with  the  eagle  face,  in  spite  of  her 
kindness,  made  me  feel  myself  an  object  of  doubtful 
character,  but  this  old  man  set  me  quite  at  ease.  "We 


Go  TO  BOARDING  SCHOOL.  25 

were  no  more  than  well  warmed  when  the  wagon  drove 
to  the  door,  and  the  boy-man  with  the  lantern  ap 
peared,  saying, 

u  Come  on." 

We  followed  him  again,  and  he  lifted  us  into  the 
wagon,  while  the  mistress  of  the  house  stood  on  the 
large  flag-stone  door-step,  shading  her  candle-flame, 
and  giving  directions  about  our  wraps. 

"  Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  when 
they  are  between  us  and  the  light;  but  that  night  the 
light  must  have  been  between  them  and  me;  for  I 
bade  good-bye  to  our  hostess  without  any  premonition 
we  should  ever  again  meet,  or  that  I  should  sit  alone, 
as  I  do  to-night,  over  half  a  century  later,  in  that  same 
old  wainscoted  room,  listening  to  the  roar  of  those 
same  angry  waters  and  the  rush  of  the  wind  wrestling 
with  the  groaning  trees,  in  the  dense  darkness  of  this 
low  valley. 

"When  we  had  been  carefully  bestowed  in  the  wagon, 
our  deliverer  took  ur>  his  lantern,  saying  to  Father 
Clever: 

"  Drive  on." 

He  was  obeyed,  and  led  the  way  over  a  bridge  across 
another  noisy  stream,  and  along  a  road  where  there 
was  the  sound  of  a  waterfall  very  near,  then  up  a 
steep,  rocky  way  until  he  stopped,  saying, 

"  I  guess  you  can  get  along  now." 

To  Father  Olever's  thanks  he  only  replied  by  a  low, 
contemptuous  but  good-humored  laugh,  as  he  turned 
to  retrace  his  steps.  All  comfort  and  strength  and 
hope  seemed  to  go  with  him.  We  were  abandoned 
to  our  fate,  babes  in  the  woods  again,  with  only  God 


26  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

for  our  reliance.  But  after  a  while  we  could  see  the 
horizon,  and  arrived  at  our  destination  several  minutes 
before  midnight,  to  find  the  great  mansion  full  of 
glancing  lights  and  busy,  expectant  life. 

The  large  family  had  waited  up  for  Father  Olever's 
return,  for  he  and  his  wagon  were  the  connecting  link 
between  that  establishment  and  the  outside  world. 
He  appeared  to  great  advantage  surrounded  by  a  bevy 
of  girls  clamoring  for  letters  and  messages.  To  me 
the  scene  was  fairy-land.  I  had  never  before  seen  any 
thing  so  grand  as  the  great  hall  with  its  polished  stair 
way.  We  had  supper  in  the  housekeeper's  room,  and 
I  was  taken  up  this  stairway,  and  then  up  and  up  a 
corkscrew  cousin  until  we  reached  the  attic,  which 
stretched  over  the  whole  house,  one  great  dormitory 
called  the  "  bee-hive."  Here  I  was  to  sleep  with  Hel 
en  Semple,  a  Pittsburg  girl,  of  about  my  own  age,  a 
frail  blonde,  who  quite  won  my  heart  at  our  first 
meeting. 

Next  day  was  Sabbath,  and  I  was  greatly  surprised 
to  see  pupils  walk  on  the  lawn.  This  was  such  a  des 
ecration  of  the  day,  but  I  made  no  remark.  I  was  too 
solemnly  impressed  by  the  grandeur  of  being  at  Brad- 
dock's  Field  to  have  hinted  that  anything  could  be 
wrong.  But  for  my  own  share  in  the  violation  I  was 
painfully  penitent. 

This  was  not  new,  for  there  were  a  long  series  of  years 
in  which  the  principal  business  of  six  days  of  every 
week,  was  repentance  for  the  very  poor  use  made  of 
the  seventh,  and  from  this  dreary  treadmill  of  sin  and 
sorrow,  no  faith  ever  could  or  did  free  me.  I  never 
could  see  salvation  in  Christ  apart  from  salvation  from 


Go   TO    BOAEDING   SCHOOL.  27 

sin,  and  while  the  sin  remained  the  salvation  was 
doubtful  and  the  sorrow  certain. 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  first  Sabbath,  a  number  of 
young  lady  pupils  came  to  the  Bee-hive  for  a  visit,  and 
as  I  afterwards  learned  to  inspect  and  name  the  two 
new  girls,  when  I  was  promptly  and  unanimously 
dubbed  "Wax  Doll."  After  a  time,  one  remarked 
that  they  must  go  and  study  their  "  ancient  history 
lesson."  I  caught  greedily  at  the  words,  ancient  his 
tory.  Ah,  if  I  could  only  be  permitted  to  study  such 
a  lesson !  ISTo  such  progress  or  promotion  seemed 
open  to  me;  but  the  thought  interfered  with  my  pray 
ers,  and  followed  me  into  the  realm  of  sleep.  So  when 
that  class  was  called  next  forenoon,  I  was  alert,  and 
what  was  my  surprise,  to  hear  those  privileged  girls 
stumbling  over  the  story  of  Samson  ?  Could  it  be  pos 
sible  that  was  ancient  history?  How  did  it  come  to 
pass  that  every  one  did  not  know  all  about  Samson, 
the  man  who  had  laid  his  head  on  Delilah's  wicked  lap, 
to  be  shorn  of  his  strength.  If  there  is  any  thing  in 
that  account,  or  any  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  it,  with 
which  I  was  not  then  familiar,  it  is  something  I  have 
never  learned.  Indeed,  I  seemed  to  have  completed 
my  theological  education  before  I  did  my  twelfth 
year. 

One  morning,  Mrs.  Olever  sent  for  me,  and  told  me 
she  had  learned  my  mother  was  not  able  to  send  me 
to  school,  but  if  I  would  take  charge  of  the  lessons  of 
the  little  girls,  she  would  furnish  me  board  and  tuition. 
This  most  generous  offer  quite  took  my  breath  away, 
and  was  most  gladly  accepted;  but  it  was  easy  work, 
and  I  wondered  my  own  studies  were  so  light.  I 


28  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

was  allowed  to  amuse  myself  drawing  flowers,  which 
were  quite  a  surprise,  and  pronounced  better  than  any 
thing  the  drawing  master  could  do — to  recite  poetry, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  larger  girls,  and  to  play  in  the 
orchard  with  my  pupils. 

With  the  other  girls,  I  became  interested  in  hair- 
dressing.  I  had  read  "  The  Children  of  the  Abbey," 
and  Amanda's  romantic  adventures  enchanted  me;  but 
she  was  quite  outside  my  life.  Now  I  made  a  nearer 
acquaintance  with  her.  She  changed  her  residence; 
so  had  I.  She  had  brown  ringlets;  I  too  should  have 
them.  So  one  Friday  night,  my  hair  was  put  up  in 
papers,  and  next  morning,  I  let  loose  an  amazing 
shower  of  curls. 

The  next  thing  to  do  was  to  go  off  alone,  and  sit 
reading  in  a  romantic  spot.  Of  course  I  did  not  ex 
pect  to  meet  Lord  Mortimer!  Miss  Fitzallen  never  had 
any  such  expectations.  I  was  simply  going  out  to 
read  and  admire  the  beauties  of  nature.  When  I  had 
seated  myself,  in  proper  attitude,  on  the  gnarled  root 
of  an  old  tree,  overhanging  a  lovely  ravine,  I  proceeded 
to  the  reading  part  of  the  play,  and  must  of  course  be 
too  much  absorbed  to  hear  the  approaching  footsteps, 
to  which  I  listened  with  bated  breath.  So  I  did  not 
look  up  when  they  stopped  at  my  side,  or  until  a  pleas 
ant  voice  said: 

"  Why  you  look  quite  romantic,  my  dear." 

Then  I  saw  Miss  Olever,  the  head  teacher,  familiarly 
called  "  Sissy  Jane."  In  that  real  and  beautiful  pres 
ence  Miss  Fitzallen  retired  to  her  old  place,  and  oh, 
the  mortification  she  left  behind  her!  1  looked  up,  a 
detected  criminal,  into  the  face  of  her  who  had  brought 


LOSE  MY  BROTHER.  29 

to  me  this  humiliation,  and  took  her  for  a  model.  My 
folly  did  not  prevent  our  being  sincere  friends  during 
all  her  earnest  and  beautiful  life. 

She  passed  on,  and  I  got  back  to  the  Bee-hive,  when 
I  disposed  of  my  curls,  and  never  again  played  hero 
ine. 

CHAPTEK    Y. 

LOSE  MY  BROTHER. — AGE,  12-15. 

MEASURED  by  the  calendar,  my  boarding-school  life 
was  six  weeks;  but  measured  by  its  pleasant  memo 
ries,  it  was  as  many  years.  Mother  wrote  for  me  to 
come  home;  and  in  going  I  saw,  by  sunlight,  the  scene 
of  our  adventure  that  dark  night  going  out.  It  was 
a  lovely  valley,  walled  in  by  steep,  wooded  hills.  Two 
ravines  joined,  bringing  each  its  contribution  of  run 
ning  water,  and  pouring  it  into  the  larger  stream  of 
the  larger  valley — a  veritable  "  meeting  of  the  waters" 
— in  all  of  nature's  work,  beautiful  exceedingly. 

The  house,  which  stood  in  the  center  of  a  large, 
green  meadow,  through  which  the  road  ran,  was  built 
in  two  parts,  of  hewn  logs,  with  one  great  stone  chim 
ney  on  the  outside,  protected  by  an  overshot  in  the 
roof,  but  that  one  in  which  the  log- heap  burned  that 
night  was  inside.  One  end  had  been  an  Indian  fort 
when  Gen.  Braddock  tried  to  reach  Fort  Pitt  by  that 
road.  The  other  end  and  stone  barn  had  been  built 
by  its  present  proprietor.  A  log  mill,  the  oldest  in 
Allegheny  county,  stood  below  the  barn,  and  to  it  the 
French  soldiers  had  come  for  meal  from  Fort  Du- 
quesne.  The  stream  crossed  by  the  bridge  was  the 


30  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

mill-race,  and  the  waterfall  made  by  the  waste-gate. 
It  was  the  homestead  of  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
one  of  Washington's  lieutenants — the  old  man  we  had 
seen.  The  woman  was  his  second  wife.  They  had  a 
numerous  family,  and  an  unpronounceable  name. 

At  home  I  learned  that,  on  account  of  a  cough,  I 
had  been  the  object  of  a  generous  conspiracy  between 
mother  and  Mrs.  Olever,  and  had  been  brought  home 
because  I  was  worse.  Our  doctors  said  I  was  in  the 
first  stage  of  consumption,  that  Elizabeth  was  to  reach 
that  point  early  in  life,  and  that  our  only  hope  lay  in 
plenty  of  calomel.  Mother  had  lost  her  husband  and 
four  vigorous  children;  there  had  been  no  lack  of  cal 
omel,  and  now,  when  death  again  threatened,  she  re 
solved  to  conduct  the  defense  on  some  new  plan. 

She  had  gained  legal  possession  of  our  village  home, 
and  moved  to  it.  Our  lot  was  large  and  well  supplied 
with  choice  fruit,  and  the  place  seemed  a  paradise  af 
ter  our  starved  lives  in  the  smoky  city.  My  apple 
tree  still  grew  at  the  east  end  of  the  house.  There 
was  a  willow  tree  mother  had  planted,  which  now  swept 
the  ground  with  its  long,  graceful  branches.  There 
were  quantities  of  rose  and  lilac  bushes,  a  walled 
spring  of  delicious  water  in  the  cellar,  and  a  whole 
world  of  wealth;  but  the  potato  lot  looked  up  in  des 
pair — a  patch  of  yellow  clay.  Mother  put  a  twelve 
years'  accumulation  of  coal  ashes  on  it,  and  thus  proved 
them  valuable  both  as  a  fertilizer  and  a  preventive  of 
potato-rot,  though  at  first  her  project  met  general  op 
position. 

William  did  the  heavy  work  and  was  proud  of  it. 
He  was  in  splendid  health,  for  his  insubordination 


LOSE  MY  BROTHER.  31 

had,  from  a  very  early  age,  saved  him  from  drugging 
either  mental  or  physical.  The  lighter  gardening 
became  part  of  my  treatment  for  consumption.  By 
having  me  each  day  lie  on  the  floor  on  my  back  with 
out  a  pillow,  and  gentle  use  of  dumb-bells,  mother 
straightened  my  spine  and  developed  my  chest — my 
clothes  being  carefully  adapted  to  its  expansion. 
Dancing  was  strictly  forbidden  by  our  church,  but 
mother  was  educated  in  Ireland  and  danced  beauti 
fully.  She  had  a  class  of  girls  and  taught  us,  and 
with  plenty  of  fresh  air,  milk  and  eggs,  effectually  dis 
posed  of  hereditary  consumption  in  her  family.  But 
while  attending  to  us,  she  must  also  make  a  living,  so 
she  bought  a  stock  of  goods  on  credit,  opened  a  store, 
and  soon  had  a  paying  business.  In  this  I  was  her 
special  assistant.  But  the  work  supplied  to  "William 
did  not  satisfy  the  holy  men  of  the  church,  who  fur 
nished  us  advice.  He  still  made  fire  engines,  and  a 
brook  in  a  meadow  presented  irresistible  temptation 
to  water-wheels  and  machinery.  One  of  his  tilt-ham 
mers  made  a  very  good  ghost,  haunting  the  meadow 
and  keeping  off  trespassers.  He  had  a  foundry, 
where  he  cast  miniature  cannon,  kettles  and  curious 
things,  and  his  rifle-practice  was  a  neighborhood  won 
der.  He  brought  water  from  the  cellar,  and  did  other 
chores  which  Pennsylvania  rules  assigned  to  women, 
and  when  boys  ridiculed  him,  he  flogged  them,  and 
did  it  quite  as  effectually  as  he  rendered  them  the  same 
service  when  they  were  rude  to  a  girl.  He  was  a  uni 
versal  favorite,  even  if  he  did  hate  catechism  and  love 
cake. 

So  mother's  conscience  was  worked  upon  until  she 


32  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

bound  him  to  a  cabinet  maker  in  the  city.  To  him, 
the  restraint  was  unendurable,  and  he  ran  away.  He 
came  after  dark  to  bid  me  good-bye,  left  love  for  moth 
er  and  Elizabeth,  and  next  morning  left  Pittsburg  on 
a  steamboat,  going  to  that  Eldorado  of  Pittsburg 
boys — "down  the  river." 

For  some  time  letters  came  regularly  from  him,  and 
he  was  happy  and  prosperous.  Then  they  ceased,  and 
after  two  years  of  agonizing  suspense,  we  heard  that 
he  had  died  of  yellow  fever  in  New  Orleans.  To  us, 
this  was  dreadful,  irreparable,  and  was  wholly  due  to 
that  iron-bedstead  piety  which  permits  no  natural 
growth,  but  sets  down  all  human  loves  and  longings 
as  of  Satanic  origin. 

Soon  after  our  removal  to  the  village,  grandfather  Js 
estate  was  advertised  for  sheriff's  sale.  Mother  had 
the  proceedings  stayed,  the  executors  dismissed,  and 
took  out  letters  of  administration,  which  made  it  neces 
sary  for  her  to  spend  some  portion  of  every  month  in  the 
city.  This  threw  the  entire  charge  of  house  and  store 
on  me.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  possible,  she  sent  me 
to  the  city  to  school,  where  I  realized  my  aspiration  of 
studying  ancient  history  and  the  piano,  and  devoured 
the  contents  of  the  text-book  of  natural  philosophy 
with  an  avidity  I  had  never  known  for  a  novel. 

In  April,  1830,  I  began  to  teach  school,  the  only 
one  in  "Wilkinsburg,  and  had  plenty  of  pupils,  young 
men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  at  two  dollars  and 
one  dollar  and  a  half  a  term.  Taught  seven  hours  a 
day,  and  Saturday  forenoon,  which  was  devoted  to 
Bible  reading  and  catechism.  I  was  the  first,  I  believe, 
in  Allegheny  Co.,  to  teach  children  without  beating 


LOSE  MY  BROTHER.  33 

them.  I  abolished  corporeal  punishment  entirely,  and 
was  so  successful  that  boys,  ungovernable  at  home, 
were  altogether  tractable.  This  life  was  perfectly 
congenial,  and  I  followed  it  for  nearly  six  years. 
Mother  started  a  Sabbath  School,  the  only  one  in  the 
village,  and  this,  too.  we  continued  for  years. 

One  of  the  pupils  was  a  girl  of  thirteen,  daughter 
of  a  well-to-do  farmer,  who  lived  within  a  mile  of  the 
village.  Her  father  had  been  converted  at  a  camp- 
meeting  and  was  a  devout  Methodist.  The  first  day 
she  attended,  I  asked  her  the  question: 

"How  many  Gods  are  there?" 

She  thought  a  moment,  and  then  said,  with  an  air 
of  satisfaction: 

"Five." 

I  was  shocked,  and  answered  in  the  language  of  the 
catechism: 

"  O  Margaret !  l  There  is  but  one  only  living  and 
true  God.' " 

She  hung  her  head,  then  nodded  it,  and  with  the 
emphasis  of  a  judge  who  had  weighed  all  the  evi 
dence,  said: 

"  I  am  sure  I  ha'  hearn  tell  o'  more  nur  one  of  em.'' 

A  young  theological  student  came  sometimes  to  stay 
over  Sabbath  and  assist  in  the  school.  He  led  in 
family  worship,  and  had  quite  a  nice  time,  until  one 
evening  he  read  a  chapter  from  the  song  of  songs 
which  was  Solomon's,  when  I  bethought  me  that  he 
was  very  much  afraid  of  toads.  I  began  to  cultivate 
those  bright-eyed  creatures,  so  that  it  always  seemed 
probable  I  had  one  in  my  pocket  or  sleeve.  The  path 
of  that  good  young  man  became  thorny  until  it  di 
verged  from  mine. 
3 


\ 


34:  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

I  was  almost  fifteen,  when  I  overheard  a  young  lady 
say  I  was  growing  pretty.  I  went  to  my  mirror  and 
spent  some  moments  in  unalloyed  happiness  and 
triumph.  Then  I  thought,  "  Pretty  face,  the  worms 
will  eat  you.  All  the  prettiest  girls  I  know  are  silly, 
but  you  shall  never  make  a  fool  of  me.  Helen's  beauty 
ruined  Troy.  Cleopatra  was  a  wretch.  So  if  you  are 
pretty,  /  will  be  master,  remember  that." 


CHAPTEE  YI. 

JOIN  CIICRCH  AND  MAKE  NEW  ENDEAVORS  TO  KEEP 
SABBATH. — AGE,  15. 

IN  the  year  1800,  the  Covenanter  church  of  this 
country  said  in  her  synod :  "  Slavery  and  Christianity 
are  incompatible,"  and  never  relaxed  her  discipline 
which  forbade  fellowship  with  slave-holders — so  I  was 
brought  up  an  abolitionist.  I  was  still  a  child  when 
I  went  through  Wilkins'  township  collecting  names  to 
a  petition  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Here,  in  a  strictly  orthodox  Presbyte 
rian  community,  I  was  everywhere  met  by  the  objec 
tions  :  "Niggers  have  no  souls,"  "The  Jews  held 
slaves,"  "Noah  cursed  Canaan,"  and  these  points  I 
argued  from  house  to  house,  occasionally  for  three 
years,  and  made  that  acquaintance  which  led  to  my 
being  sent  for  in  cases  of  sickness  and  death,  before  I 
had  completed  my  sixteenth  year.  In  this,  I  in  some 
measure  took  the  place  long  filled  by  mother,  who  was 
often  a  substitute  for  doctor  and  preacher. 

Looking  back  at  her  life,  I  think  how  little  those 


JOIN  CHURCH.  35 

know  of  Calvinists  who  regard  them  merely  as  a  class 


of  autocrats,  conscious  of  their  own  election  to  glory, 
and  rejoicing  in  the  reprobation  of  all  others;  for  I 
have  never  known  such  humble,  self-distrustful  people 
as  I  have  found  in  that  faith.  Mother,  whose  life  was 
full  of  wisdom  and  good  works,  doubted,  even  to  the 
last,  her  own  acceptance  with  God.  She  and  I  believed 
that  "  a  jealous  God,"  who  can  brook  no  rivals,  had 
taken  away  our  loving  husband  and  father;  our  strong 
and  brave  son  and  brother,  because  we  loved  them  too 
much,  and  I  was  brought  up  to  think  it  a  great  pre 
sumption  to  assume  that  such  a  worm  of  the  dust  as 
I,  could  be  aught  to  the  Creator  but  a  subject  of  pun 
ishment. 

During  the  spring  of  1831,  mother  said  to  me : 

"  Sabbath  week  is  our  communion,  and  I  thought 
you  might  wish  to  join  the  church." 

I  was  startled  and  without  looking  up,  said  : 

"Am  I  old  enough?" 

"  If  you  feel  that  the  dying  command  of  the  Savior, 
*do  this  in  remembrance  of  me'  was  addressed  to  you, 
you  are  old  enough  to  obey  it." 

Not  another  word  was  said  and  the  subject  was 
never  again  broached  between  us,  but  here  a  great 
conflict  began.  That  command  was  given  to  me,  but 
how  could  I  obey  it  without  eating  and  drinking  dam 
nation  to  myself  ?  "Was  mine  a  saving  faith,  or  did  I, 
like  the  devils,  believe  and  tremble?  I  had  been  be 
lieving  as  long  as  I  could  remember,  but  did  not  seem 
to  grow  in  the  image  of  God. 

The  conflict  lasted  several  days.  Sleep  left  me.  The 
heavens  were  iron  and  the  earth  brass.  I  turned  to 


36  HALF  A  CENT  UK  Y. 

Erskine  to  learn  the  signs  of  saving  faith,  but  found 
only  reason  to  suspect  self-deception.  I  could  not  sub 
mit  to  God's  will — could  not  be  willing  that  William 
should  be  lost — nay,  I  was  not  willing  that  any  one 
should  be  lost.  I  could  not  stay  in  heaven,  and  know 
that  any  one  was  enduring  endless  torments  in  some 
other  place!  I  must  leave  and  go  to  their  relief.  It 
was  dreadful  that  Abraham  did  not  even  try  to  go  to 
poor  Dives,  or  to  send  some  one.  My  whole  soul  Hew 
into  open  revolt;  then  oh!  the  total  depravity  which 
could  question  "the  ways  of  God  to  man."  I  hated 
Milton.  I  despised  his  devils;  had  a  supreme  con 
tempt  for  the  "  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air;"  did 
not  remember  a  time  when  I  was  afraid  of  him.  God 
was  "  my  refuge  and  my  shield,  in  straits  a  present 
aid."  If  he  took  care  of  me,  no  one  else  could  hurt 
me;  if  he  did  not,  no  one  else  could;  and  to  be  accept 
ed  by  him  was  all  there  was  or  could  be  worth  caring 
for;  but  how  should  I  find  this  acceptance  with  my 
heart  full  of  rebellion? 

One  afternoon  I  became  unable  to  think,  but  a  white 
mist  settled  down  over  hell.  Even  those  contemptible 
devils  were  having  their  tongues  cooled  with  blessed 
drops  of  water.  The  fires  grew  dim,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  there  was  to  be  a  rain  of  grace  and  mercy  in  that 
region  of  despair.  Then  I  preferred  my  petition,  that 
God  would  write  his  name  upon  my  forehead,  and 
give  me  that  "  new  name"  which  should  mark  me  as 
his;  that  he  would  bring  William  into  the  fold,  and 
do  with  me  as  he  would.  I  would  be  content  to  spend 
my  whole  life  in  any  labor  he  should  appoint,  without 
a  sign  of  the  approval  of  God  or  man,  if.  in  the  end. 


JOIN  CHURCH.  37 

I  and  mine  should  be  found  among  those  "  who  had 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb." 

I  fell  asleep — slept  hours — and  when  the  sun  was 
setting,  woke  in  perfect  peace.  My  proposition  had 
been  accepted,  and  wonderful  grace,  which  had  given 
what  I  had  not  dared  to  ask,  assurance  of  present  ac 
ceptance.  I  should  have  all  the  work  and  privation 
for  which  I  had  bargained — should  be  a  thistle-digger 
in  the  vineyard ;  should  be  set  to  tasks  from  which 
other  laborers  shrank,  but  in  no  trial  could  I  ever  be 
alone,  and  should  at  last  hear  the  welcome  "well 
done." 

I  arose  as  one  from  a  grave  to  a  joyous  resurrection; 
but  kept  all  these  things  in  my  heart.  Personal  ex 
periences  being  altogether  between  God  and  the  soul, 
were  not  considered  fit  subjects  for  conversation,  and 
when  I  came  before  the  session  applying  for  church 
membership,  no  mention  was  made  of  them,  except  as 
a  general  confession  of  faith. 

Rev.  Andrew  Black  addressed  the  table  at  which  I 
sat  in  my  first  communion,  and  said: 

"The  Lord's  Supper  has  been  named  the  Eucharist, 
after  the  oath  taken  by  a  Roman  soldier,  never  to  turn 
his  back  upon  his  leader.  You,  in  partaking  of  these 
emblems,  do  solemnly  vow  that  you  will  never  turn 
your  back  upon  Christ,  but  that  you  will  follow  him 
whithersoever  he  goeth.  Let  others  do  as  they  will, 
you  are  to  follow  the  Lamb,  through  good  and  through 
evil  report,  to  a  palace  or  to  a  prison;  follow  him, 
even  if  he  should  lead  you  out  of  the  church." 

This  was  in  perfect  harmony  with  my  private  agree- 


38  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ment,  and  no  other  act  of  iny  life  has  been  so  solemn 
or  far-reaching  in  its  consequences,  as  that  ratification 
of  my  vow,  and  it  is  one  I  have  least  cause  to  repent. 
However,  it  brought  a  new  phase  to  an  old  trouble. 
How  should  I  follow  Christ?  I  could  not  do  as  he 
had  done.  I  could  not  go  to  meeting  every  Sabbath, 
and  society  every  Friday;  and  if  I  did,  was  that  fol 
lowing  Christ  who  never  built  a  meeting-house,  or 
conducted  any  service  resembling  those  now  held?  I 
read  the  life  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  settled  back 
into  the  old  Sabbath-keeping  rut.  Resolving  to  do 
my  best,  I  prayed  all  week,  for  grace  to  keep  the  next 
Sabbath.  I  rose  early  that  trial-morning,  prayed  as 
soon  as  my  eyes  were  open,  read  a  chapter,  looked  out 
into  the  beautiful  "morning,  thought  about  God  and 
prayed — spent  so  much  time  praying,  that  Elizabeth 
had  breakfast  ready  when  I  went  down  stairs.  While 
I  ate  it,  I  held  my  thoughts  to  the  work  of  the  day, 
worshiping  God;  but  many  facts  and  fancies  forced 
themselves  in  and  disturbed  my  pious  meditations. 
After  breakfast,  I  went  back  to  my  room  to  continue 
iny  labor;  but  mother  soon  came  and  said: 

"Do  you  intend  to  let  Elizabeth  do  all  the  work?" 

I  dropped  my  roll  of  saintship,  and  went  and  washed 

the  dishes.     Had  I  been  taught  that  he  who  does  any 

honest  work  serves  God  and  follows  Christ,  what  a 

world  of  woe  would  have  been  spared  me. 

CHAPTEE  VII. 

THE  DELIVERER  OF  THE  DARK  NIGHT. AGE,  19-21. 

QUILTINGS  furnished  the  principal  amusement,  and 
at  these  I  was  in  requisition,  both  for  my  expertness 


DELIVEEEB  OF  THE  DARK  NIGHT.  39 

with  the  needle,  and  my  skill  in  laying  out  work;  but 
as  I  had  no  brother  to  come  for  me,  I  usually  went 
home  before  the  evening  frolic,  which  consisted  of 
plays.  Male  and  female  partners  went  through  the 
common  quadrille  figures,  keeping  time  to  the  music 
of  their  own  voices,  and  making  a  denoument  every 
few  moments  by  some  man  kissing  some  woman,  per 
haps  in  a  dark  hall,  or  some  woman  kissing  some  man, 
or  some  man  kissing  all  the  women,  or  vice  versa. 
Elders  and  preachers  often  looked  on  in  pious  appro 
bation,  and  the  church  covered  these  sports  with  the 
mantle  of  her  approval,  but  was  ready  to  excommuni 
cate  any  one  who  should  dance.  Promiscuous  danc 
ing  was  the  fiery  dragon  which  the  church  went  out 
to  slay.  Only  its  death  could  save  her  from  a  fit  of 
choler  which  might  be  fatal,  unless,  indeed,  the  danc 
ing  were  sanctified  by  promiscuous  kissing.  If  men 
and  women  danced  together  without  kissing,  they 
were  in  immediate  danger  of  eternal  damnation ;  but 
with  plenty  of  kissing,  and  rude  wrestling  to  overcome 
the  delicacy  of  women  who  objected  to  such  desecra 
tion,  the  church  gave  her  blessing  to  the  quadrille. 

My  protest  against  these  plays  had  given  offense, 
and  I  chose  to  avoid  them;  but  one  evening  the  host 
begged  me  to  remain,  saying  he  would  see -that  I  was 
not  annoyed,  and  would  himself  take  me  home.  The 
frolic  was  only  begun,  when  he  came  and  asked  per 
mission  to  introduce  a  gentleman,  saying:  "  If  you  do 
not  treat  him  well,  I  will  never  forgive  you." 

There  was  no  need  of  this  caution,  for  he  presented 
a  man  whose  presence  made  me  feel  that  I  was  a  very 
little  girl  and  should  have  been  at  home.  He  was 


40  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

over  six  feet  tall,  well  formed  and  strongly  built,  with 
black  hair  and  eyes,  a  long  face,  and  heavy  black 
whiskers.  Pie  was  handsomely  dressed,  and  his  man 
ner  that  of  a  grave  and  reverend  seignor.  A  Russian 
count  in  a  New  York  drawing  room,  then,  when 
counts  were  few,  could  not  have  seemed  more  foreign 
than  this  man  in  that  village  parlor,  less  than  two 
miles  from  the  place  of  his  birth. 

He  was  the  son  of  the  old  revolutionary  soldier, 
with  the  un  pronoun  cable  name,  who  lived  in  the  beau 
tiful  valley.  This  I  knew  at  once,  but  did  not,  for 
some  time,  realize  that  it  was  he  who  rescued  us  from 
the  black  waters  on  that  dark  night,  carried  us  to  safe 
ty  and  light,  and  left  us  again  in  darkness.  This  in 
cident,  so  much  to  me,  he  never  could  distinguish 
among  the  many  times  he  had  "  helped  Olever  and  his 
seminary  girls  out  of  scrapes,"  and  he  never  spoke  of 
these  adventures  without  that  same  laugh  which  I 
noticed  when  Father  Olever  thanked  him. 

He  had  elected  me  as  his  wife  some  years  before 
this  evening,  and  had  not  kept  it  secret;  had  been  as 
sured  his  choice  was  presumptuous,  but  came  and  took 
possession  of  his  prospective  property  with  the  air  of 
a  man  who  understood  his  business.  I  next  saw  him 
on  horseback,  and  this  man  of  giant  strength  in  full 
suit  of  black,  riding  a  large  spirited  black  horse,  be 
came  my  "  black  knight." 

My  sister  hated  him,  and  my  mother  doubted  him, 
or  rather  doubted  the  propriety  of  my  receiving  visits 
from  him.  His  family  were  the  leading  Methodists  of 
the  township;  his  father  had  donated  land  and  built  a 
meeting-house,  which  took  his  name,  and  his  house 


DELIVERER  OF  THE  DARK  NIGHT.  41 

was  the  headquarters  of  traveling  preachers.  There 
was  a  camp-meeting  ground  on  the  farm;  his  mother 
"lived  without  sin,"  prayed  aloud  and  shouted  in 
meeting,  while  the  income  and  energy  of  the  family 
were  expended  in  propagating  a  faith  which  we  be 
lieved  false.  A  marriage  with  him  would  be  incon 
gruous  and  bring  misery  to  both.  These  objections 
he  overruled,  by  saying  he  was  not  a  member  of  any 
church,  would  never  interfere  with  my  rights  of  con 
science,  would  take  or  send  me  to  my  meeting  when 
possible,  and  expect  me  to  go  sometimes  with  him. 
He  proposed  going  up  the  Allegheny  to  establish 
saw-mills,  and  if  I  would  go  into  the  wroods  with  him, 
there  should  be  no  trouble  about  religion.  So  there 
seemed  no  valid  objection,  and  two  years  after  our  in 
troduction  we  were  married,  on  the  18th  of  Novem 
ber,  1836. 

Then  all  was  changed.  I  offended  him  the  day  af 
ter  by  shedding  tears  when  I  left  home  to  go  for  a  visit 
to  his  father's  house,  and  his  sister  had  told  him  that 
I  cried  while  dressing  to  be  married.  These  offenses 
he  never  forgave,  and  concluded  that  since  I  cared  so 
little  for  him,  he  would  not  leave  his  friends  and  go 
up  the  Allegheny  with  me.  His  services  were  in 
dispensable  at  home,  since  his  brother  Samuel  had 
gone  into  business  for  himself,  and  the  next  brother 
William  was  not  seventeen,  and  could  not  take  charge 
of  the  farm  and  mills.  His  mother  was  ready  to  take 
me  into  the  family, — although  the  house  was  not  large 
enough  to  accommodate  us  comfortably — the  old  shop 
in  the  yard  could  be  fitted  up  for  a  school-room.  I 
could  teach  and  he  could  manage  the  estate. 


42  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

In  this  change,  he  but  followed  that  impulse  which 
led  the  men  of  England,  centuries  ago,  to  enact,  that 
"  marriage  annuls  all  previous  contracts  between  the 
parties,"  and  which  now  leads  men  in  all  civilized 
countries  to  preserve  such  statutes.  It  is  an  old  adage, 
"All  is  fair  in  love  as  in  war,"  but  I  thought  not  of 
general  laws,  and  only  felt  a  private  grievance. 

By  a  further  change  of  plan,  I  was  to  get  religion 
and  preach.  Wesley  made  the  great  innovation  of 
calling  women  to  the  pulpit,  and  although  it  had  after 
wards  been  closed  to  them  generally,  there  were  still 
women  who  did  preach,  while  all  were  urged  to  take 
part  in  public  worship.  My  husband  had  been  con 
verted  after  our  engagement  and  shortly  before  our 
marriage,  and  was  quite  zealous.  He  thought  me  won 
derfully  wise,  and  that  I  might  bring  souls  to  Christ 
if  I  only  would.  I  quoted  Paul:  "  Let  women  keep  si 
lence  in  churches,  and  learn  of  their  husbands  at 
horne."  He  replied,  "Wives,  obey  your  husbands." 
He  laughed  at  the  thought  of  my  learning  from  him 
and  said:  "What  shall  I  teach  you?  Will  yon  come 
to  the  mill  and  let  me  show  you  how  to  put  a  log  on 
the  carriage?" 

It  was  a  very  earnest  discussion,  and  the  Bible  was 
on  both  sides;  but  I  followed  the  lead  of  my  church, 
which  taught  me  to  be  silent.  He  quoted  his  preachers, 
who  were  in  league  with  him,  to  get  me  to  give  my 
self  to  the  Lord,  help  them  save  souls,  by  calling  on 
men  everywhere  to  repent;  but  I  \vas  obstinate.  I 
would  not  get  religion,  would  not  preach,  would  not 
live  in  the  house  with  his  mother,  and  stayed  with  my 
own.  His  younger  brothers  came  regularly  to  me  for 


DELIVERER  OF  THE  DAEK  NIGHT.  43 

lessons  with  iny  sister,  and  I  added  two  idiotic  children 
bound  to  his  sister's  husband,  to  whose  darkened 
minds  I  found  the  key  hidden  from  other  teachers. 
His  brothers  i  adopted  from  the  first,  in  place  of  the 
one  I  had  lost,  and  they  repaid  my  love  in  kind;  but 
books  soon  appeared  as  an  entering  wedge  between 
their  souls  and  religion,  which  formed  the  entire  men 
tal  pabulum  of  the  family. 

I  believe  there  was  not  at  that  time  a  member  of 
the  Pittsburg  Conference  who  was  a  college  graduate, 
few  who  had  even  a  good,  common  school  educa 
tion,  while  two  of  those  who  preached  in  our  meeting 
house  and  were  frequent  guests  in  the  family,  were 
unable  to  read. 

My  husband's  father  was  old  and  feeble,  and  had 
devised  his  property  to  his  wife,  to  be  divided  at  her 
death  between  her  sons.  My  husband,  as  her  agent, 
would  come  into  possession  of  the  whole,  and  they 
thought  I  might  object  to  the  "prophet's  chamber;" 
but  it  required  no  worldly  motive  to  stimulate  these 
fiery  zealots  to  save  a  sinner  from  the  toils  of  Calvinism. 
It  is  probable  many  of  them  would  have  laid  down  his 
life  for  his  religion,  and  when  they  got  on  the  track 
of  a  sinner,  they  pursued  him  as  eagerly  as  ever  an 
English  parson  did  a  fox,  but  it  wras  to  save,  not  to 
kill.  In  these  hot  pursuits,  they  did  not  stand  on 
ceremony,  and  in  my  case,  found  a  subject  that  would 
not  run.  My  kith  and  kin  had  died  at  the  stake,  bear 
ing  testimony  against  popery  and  prelacy;  had  fought 
on  those  fields  where  Scotchmen  charged  in  solid  col 
umns,  singing  psalms;  and  though  I  was  wrax  at  all 
other  points,  I  was  granite  on  "  The  Solemn  League 


4A  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  Covenant."  With  the  convictions  of  others  I  did 
not  interfere,  but  when  attacked  would  "render  a  rea 
son."  My  assailants  denounced  theological  semina 
ries  as  "  preacher-factories" — informed  me  that  "nei 
ther  Dr.  Black  nor  any  of  his  congregation  ever  had 
religion,"  and  that  only  by  getting  it  could  any  one  be 
saved.  My  husband  became  proud  of  my  defense, 
and  the  boys  grew  disrespectful  to  their  religious 
guides.  Their  mother  became  anxious  about  their 
souls,  so  the  efforts  for  my  conversion  were  redou 
bled. 

From  the  first  the  preachers  disapproved  of  my  be 
ing  permitted  to  go  to  my  meeting,  and  especially  to 
my  husband  accompanying  me.  He  refused  to  go,  on 
the  ground  that  he  had  not  been  invited  to  commune, 
and  as  I  sank  in  the  deep  waters  of  affliction,  I  did  so 
need  the  pulpit  teachings  of  my  old  pastor,  which 
seemed  to  lift  me  and  set  my  feet  upon  a  rock.  One 
day  I  walked  the  seven  miles  and  back,  when  the 
family  carriage  went  to  take  two  preachers  to  an  ap 
pointment;  three  horses  stood  in  the  old  stone  barn, 
and  my  husband  at  home  with  his  mother.  This  gave 
great  offense  as  the  advertisement  of  a  grievance,  and 
was  never  repeated. 

During  all  my  childhood  and  youth,  I  had  been 
spoiled  by  much  love,  if  love  can  spoil.  I  was  non- 
resistant  by  nature,  and  on  principle,  believed  in  the 
power  of  good.  Forbearance,  generosity,  helpful  ser 
vice,  would,  should,  must,  win  my  new  friends  to  love 
me. 

Getting  me  into  the  house  with  my  mother-in-law, 
was  so  important  a  part  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  that 


DELIVERER  OF  THE  DARK  NIGHT.  45 

to  effect  it,  I  was  left  without  support  or  compensa 
tion  for  my  services  as  teacher,  tailor,  dress-maker, 
for  my  husband's  family.  He  visited  me  once  or 
twice  a  week,  and  ignored  my  mother's  presence, 
while  she  felt  that  in  this,  as  in  any  church-join  ing 
conflict,  only  God  could  help  me,  and  stood  aloof. 

To  me  the  sun  was  darkened,  and  the  moon  refused 
her  light.  I  knew  "  that  jealous  God  "  who  claimed 
the  supreme  love  of  his  creatures,  was  scourging  me 
for  making  an  idol  and  bowing  down  before  it — for 
loving  my  husband.  I  knew  it  was  all  just  and  clung 
to  the  Almighty  arm,  with  the  old  cry,  "Though  he 
slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him."  To  my  husband  I 
clung  with  like  tenacity,,  and  could  not  admit  that  my 
suffering  was  through  any  fault  of  his. 

The  summer  after  my  marriage,  mother  went  for  a 
long  visit  to  Butler,  and  left  us  in  possession  of  her 
house.  My  husband  bought  a  village  property,  in 
cluding  a  wagon-maker's  shop,  employed  a  workman 
and  sent  him  to  board  with  me.  He  also  made  some 
additions  to  a  dwelling  on  it,  that  we  might  go  there 
to  live,  and  the  workmen  boarded  with  me,  while  my 
mother-in-law  furnished  provisions  and  came  or  sent 
a  daughter  to  see  that  I  did  not  waste  them.  Her  re 
proofs  were  in  the  form  of  suggestions,  and  she  sought 
to  please  me  by  saying  she  had  "  allowed  James"  to 
get  certain  things  for  me;  but  he  did  not  visit  me  any 
often er  than  when  mother  was  at  home,  and  when  she 
returned  in  the  autumn,  the  potatoes  were  frozen  in 
the  ground,  the  apples  on  the  trees,  and  the  cow  stood 
starving  at  the  stable  door. 

Then  I  learned  that  I  had  been  expected  to  secure 


46  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

the  fall  crops  on  mother's  lot,  and  this  was  not  unrea 
sonable,  for  I  had  married  a  Pennsylvania  farmer,  and 
their  wives  and  sisters  and  daughters  did  such  work 
often,  while  the  "  men  folks  "  pitched  horseshoes  to 
work  off  their  surplus  vitality.  Lack  of  strength  was 
no  reason  why  a  woman  should  fail  in  her  duty,  for 
when  one  fell  at  her  post,  there  was  always  another  to 
take  her  place. 

Up  to  this  time  mother  had  left  me  to  settle  my 
troubles,  but  now,  she  told  me  I  must  turn  and  de 
mand  justice;  that  generosity  was  more  than  thrown 
away;  that  I  never  could  live  with  my  husband  and 
bear  his  neglect  and  unkindness  and  that  of  his  fam 
ily.  I  must  leave  him,  defend  myself,  or  die.  That 
I  should  have  been  expected  to  gather  apples  and  dig 
potatoes,  filled  her  with  indignation.  She  advised  me 
to  stay  with  her  and  refuse  to  see  him,  but  I  shuddered 
to  think  it  had  come  to  this  in  one  short  year,  and  felt 
that  all  would  yet  be  well.  So  I  went  to  live  in  the 
house  he  provided  for  me,  his  mother  furnished  my 
supplies,  and  he  came  once  a  week  to  see  me. 

Here  let  me  say,  that  in  my  twenty  years  of  married 
life,  my  conflicts  were  all  spiritual ;  that  there  never 
was  a  time  when  my  husband's  strong  right  arm  would 
not  be  tempered  to  infantile  gentleness  to  tend  me  in 
illness,  or  when  he  hesitated  to  throw  himself  between 
me  and  danger.  Over  streams  and  other  places  im 
passible  to  me,  he  carried  me,  but  could  not  under 
stand  how  so  frail  a  thing  could  be  so  obstinate. 


FITTING  MYSELF  INTO  MY  SPHERE.  47 

OHAPTEE    VIII. 

FITTING  MYSELF  INTO  MY  SPHERE. AGE,  22,  23. 

DURING  all  my  girlhood  I  saw  no  pictures,  no  art 
gallery,  no  studio,  but  had  learned  to  feel  great  con 
tempt  for  my  own  efforts  at  picture-making.  A 
traveling  artist  stopped  in  Wilkinsburg  and  painted 
some  portraits;  we  visited  his  studio,  and  a  new  world 
opened  to  me.  Up  to  that  time  portrait  painting  had 
seemed  as  inaccessible  as  the  moon — a  sublimity  I  no 
more  thought  of  reaching  than  a  star;  but  when  I  saw 
a  portrait  on  the  easel,  a  palette  of  paints  and  some 
brushes,  I  was  at  home  in  a  new  world,  at  the  head  of 
a  long  vista  of  faces  which  I  must  paint;  but  the  new 
aspiration  was  another  secret  to  keep. 

Bard,  the  wagon-maker,  made  me  a  stretcher,  and 
with  a  yard  of  unbleached  muslin,  some  tacks  and 
white  lead,  I  made  a  canvas.  In  the  shop  were  white 
lead,  lampblack,  king's  yellow  and  red  lead,  with  oil 
and  turpentine.  I  watched  Bard  mix  paints,  and  con 
cluded  I  wanted  brown.  Years  before,  I  heard  of 
brown  umber,  so  I  got  umber  and  some  brushes  and 
begun  my  husband's  portrait.  I  hid  it  when  he  was 
there  or  I  heard  any  one  coming,  and  once  blistered  it 
badly  trying  to  dry  it  before  the  fire,  so  that  it  was  a 
very  rough  work;  but  it  was  a  portrait,  a  daub,  a  like 
ness,  and  the  hand  was  his  hand  and  no  other.  The 
figure  was  correct,  and  the  position  in  the  chair,  and, 
from  the  moment  I  began  it,  I  felt  I  had  found  my 
vocation. 


48  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

What  did  I  care  for  preachers  and  theological  argu 
ments?  "What  matter  who  sent  me  my  bread,  or 
whether  I  had  any?  What  matter  for  anything,  so 
long  as  I  had  a  canvas  and  some  paints,  with  that  long 
perspective  of  faces  and  figures  crowding  up  and  beg 
ging  to  be  painted.  The  face  of  every  one  I  knew 
was  there,  with  every  line  and  varying  expression,  and 
in  each  I  seemed  to  read  the  inner  life  in  the  outer 
form.  Oh,  how  they  plead  with  me!  What  graceful 
lines  and  gorgeous  colors  floated  around  me!  I  for 
got  God,  and  did  not  know  it;  forgot  philosophy,  and 
did  not  care  to  remember  it;  but  alas!  I  forgot  to  get 
Bard's  dinner,  and,  although  I  forgot  to  be  hungry,  I 
had  no  reason  to  suppose  he  did.  He  would  willing 
ly  have  gone  hungry,  rather  than  give  any  one  trouble; 
but  I  had  neglected  a  duty.  Not  only  once  did  I  do 
this,  but  again  and  again,  the  fire  went  out  or  the 
bread  ran  over  in  the  pans,  while  I  painted  and 
dreamed. 

My  conscience  began  to  trouble  me.  Housekeeping 
was  "  woman's  sphere,"  although  I  had  never  then 
heard  the  words,  for  no  woman  had  gotten  out  of  it, 
to  be  hounded  back;  but  I  knew  my  place,  and  scorned 
to  leave  it.  I  tried  to  think  I  could  paint  without  neg 
lect  of  duty.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  that  painting 
was  a  duty  for  a  married  woman!  Had  the  passion 
seized  me  before  marriage,  no  other  love  could  have 
come  between  me  and  art;  but  I  felt  that  it  was  too 
late,  as  my  life  was  already  devoted  to  another  object 
—housekeeping. 

It  was  a  hard  struggle.  I  tried  to  compromise,  but 
experience  soon  deprived  me  of  that  hope,  for  to  paint 


FITTING  MYSELF  INTO  MY  SPHERE.  49 

was  to  be  oblivious  of  all  other  things.  In  my  doubt, 
I  met  one  of  those  newspaper  paragraphs  with  which 
men  are  wont  to  pelt  women  into  subjection:  "A  man 
does  not  marry  an  artist,  but  a  housekeeper."  This 
fitted  my  case,  and  my  doom  was  sealed. 

I  put  away  my  brushes ;  resolutely  crucified  my  di 
vine  gift,  and  while  it  hung  writhing  on  the  cross, 
spent  my  best  years  and  powers  cooking  cabbage. 
"  A  servant  of  servants  shall  she  be,"  must  have  been 
spoken  of  women,  not  negroes. 

Friends  have  tried  to  comfort  me  by  the  assurance 
that  my  life-work  has  been  better  done  by  the  pen, 
than  it  could  have  been  with  the  pencil,  but  this  can 
not  be.  I  have  never  cared  for  literary  fame;  have 
avoided,  rather  than  sought  it;  have  enjoyed  the  abuse 
of  the  press  more  than  its  praise;  have  held  my  pen 
with  a  feeling  of  contempt  for  its  feebleness,  and  nev 
er  could  be  so  occupied  with  it  as  to  forget  a  domestic 
duty,  while  I  have  never  visited  a  picture  gallery,  but 
I  have  bowed  in  deep  repentance  for  the  betrayal  of  a 
trust. 

"Where  are  the  pictures  I  should  have  given  to  the 
world?  Where  my  record  of  the  wrongs  and  out 
rages  of  my  age;  of  the  sorrows  and  joys;  the  trials  and 
triumphs,  that  should  have  been  written  amid  autumn 
and  sunset  glories  in  the  eloquent  faces  and  speaking 
forms  which  have  everywhere  presented  themselves, 
begging  to  be  interpreted  ?  Why  have  I  never  put  on 
canvas  one  pair  of  those  pleading  eyes,  in  which  are 
garnered  the  woes  of  centuries? 

Is  that  Christianity  which  has  so  long  said  to  one- 
half  of  the  race,  "  Thou  shalt  not  use  any  gift  of  the 
4 


50  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

Creator,  if  it  be  not  approved  by  thy  brother;  and  un 
to  man,  not  God,  thou  shalt  ever  turn  and  ask, '  What 
wilt  thou  have  rne  to  do  ? " 

It  was  not  only  iny  art-love  which  must  be  sacri 
ficed  to  my  duty  as  a  wife,  but  my  literary  tastes  must 
go  with  it.  "  The  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife.'5 
To  be  head,  he  must  be  superior.  An  uncultivated 
husband  could  not  be  the  superior  of  a  cultivated  wife. 
I  knew  from  the  first  that  his  education  had  been  lim 
ited,  but  thought  the  defect  would  be  easily  remedied 
as  he  had  good  abilities,  but  I  discovered  he  had  no 
love  for  books.  His  spiritual  guides  derided  human 
learning  and  depended  on  inspiration.  My  knowledge 
stood  in  the  way  of  my  salvation,  and  I  must  be  that 
odious  thing — a  superior  wife — or  stop  my  progress,  for 
to  be  and  appear  were  the  same  thing.  I  must  be  the 
mate  of  the  man  I  had  chosen ;  and  if  he  would  not  come 
to  my  level,  I  must  go  to  his.  So  I  gave  up  study,  and 
for  years  did  not  read  one  page  in  any  book  save  the 
Bible.  My  religious  convictions  I  could  not  change, 
but  all  other  differences  should  disappear. 

Mother  moved  to  the  city  in  the  spring  of  1838,  and 
my  health  was  rapidly  failing.  I  had  rebelled  against 
my  mother-in-law,  returned  her  supplies,  and  refused 
to  receive  anything  from  her.  This  brought  on  a 
fearful  crisis,  in  which  my  husband  threatened  sui 
cide;  but  I  was  firm,  and  he  concluded  to  rent  the 
mills  and  take  me  away.  This  he  did.  His  father 
lived  but  a  few  months,  and  died  on  the  second  anni 
versary  of  our  marriage.  He  lies  buried  in  the  ground 
he  donated  as  "  God's  acre,"  with  only  this  inscription 
at  his  head:  "John  Swisshelm,  aged  86."  No  sign 


HABITATIONS  OF  HORRID  CRUELTY.  51 

that  he  was  one  of  the  world's  heroes — yet,  when  our 
revolution  broke  out,  his  parents  had  but  two  children. 
The  oldest  enlisted  and  was  killed,  when  John  caught 
up  his  rifle,  took  his  place,  and  kept  it  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  spent  the  winter  in  Yalley  Forge,  and 
once,  in  the  darkest  time,  discovered  Washington  on 
his  knees  in  a  lonely  thicket,  praying  aloud  for  his 
country.  This  gave  him  hope,  when  hope  was  well- 
nigh  dead,  and  he  followed  his  commander  across  the 
Jerseys,  one  of  the  two  thousand  who  wrote  in  blood, 
from  their  shoeless  feet,  their  protest  against  British 
rule  on  the  soil  they  thus  consecrated  to  Freedom. 


CHAPTEE    IX1. 

HABITATIONS  OF  HORKID  CRUELTY. AGE,  23, 24. 

ON  the  6th  of  June,  1838,  the  white  frost  lay  on  the 
west  side  of  Pittsburg  roofs  as  we  steamed  away  from 
her  wharf,  bound  for  Louisville,  where  my  husband 
proposed  going  into  a  business  already  established  by 
his  brother  Samuel. 

On  the  boat,  all  the  way  down  the  river,  the  gener 
al  topic  of  conversation  was  the  contrast  between  the 
desolate  slave-cursed  shores  of  Kentucky,  and  the 
smiling  plenty  of  the  opposite  bank;  but  Louisville 
was  largely  settled  by  Northern  people,  and  was  to 
prove  an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  slavery. 

It  lay  at  the  head  of  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  and 
the  general  government  had  lately  expended  large 
sums  in  building  a  canal  around  them.  Henry  Clay 
was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  slavery  held  possession 


52  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

of  the  national  resources,  Louisville  might  count  on 
favors,  and  she  was  to  be  Queen  City  of  the  West. 
There  was  an  aspiring  little  place  which  fancied 
itself  a  rival,  a  little  boat-landing,  without  natural  ad 
vantages,  called  Cincinnati,  where  they  killed  hogs; 
but  it  was  quite  absurd  to  think  of  her  competing 
with  the  great  metropolis  at  the  head  of  the  canal. 

I  was  quite  surprised  to  find  there  were  a  good 
many  houses  and  folks  in  Cincinnati;  but  our  boat 
did  not  stop  long,  and  we  soon  reached  our  Eldorado. 
Before  we  eifected  a  landing  at  the  crowded  wharf,  I 
fell  to  wondering  if  a  Pittsburg  drayman  could  take  a 
Louisville  dray,  its  load,  its  three  horses  and  ragged 
driver,  pile  them  on  his  dray,  and  with  his  one  horse 
take  them  to  their  destination — and  I  thought  he 
could. 

Samuel  met  us,  and  as  we  went  in  a  hack  to  the 
boarding  place  he  had  engaged.  I  wondered  what  had 
happened  that  so  many  men  were  off  work  in  the 
middle  of  the  forenoon.  Who  or  what  could  they 
be,  those  fellows  in  shining  black  broadcloth,  each 
with  a  stove-pipe  hat  on  the  side  of  his  head,  his 
thumbs  in  the  armholes  of  a  satin  vest,  displaying  a 
wonderful  glimmer  of  gold  chain  and  diamond  stud, 
balancing  himself  first  on  his  heels  and  then  on  his 
toes,  as  he  rolled  a  cigar  from  one  side  of  his  mouth 
to  the  other?  How  did  they  come  to  be  standing 
around  on  corners  and  doorsteps  by  the  hundred,  like 
crows  on  a  cornfield  fence? 

It  was  some  time  before  I  learned  that  this  was  the 
advance  guard  of  a  great  army  of  woman-whippers, 
which  stretched  away  back  to  the  AtlantiCj  and  around 


HABITATIONS  OF  HOKEID  CKUELTY.  53 

the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  that  they  were 
out  on  duty  as  a  staring  brigade,  whose  business  it 
was  to  insult  every  woman  who  ventured  on  the  street 
without  a  male  protector,  by  a  stare  so  lascivious  as 
could  not  be  imagined  on  American  free  soil.  I 
learned  that  they  all  lived,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  the 
sale  of  their  own  children,  and  the  labor  of  the  mothers 
extorted  by  the  lash.  I  came  to  know  one  hoary- 
haired  veteran,  whose  entire  support  came  from  the 
natural  increase  and  wages  of  nineteen  women,  one  of 
whom,  a  girl  of  eighteen,  lived  with  him  in  a  fashion 
able  boarding-house,  waited  on  him  at  table,  slept  in 
his  room,  and  of  whose  yearly  wages  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  dollars  were  credited  on  his  board 
bill. 

I  learned  that  none  of  the  shapely  hands  displayed 
on  the  black  vests,  had  ever  used  other  implement  of 
toil  than  a  pistol,  bowie-knife  or  slave- whip;  that  any 
other  tool  would  ruin  the  reputation  of  the  owner  of 
the  taper  digits;  but  they  did  not  lose  caste  by  horse 
whipping  the  old  mammys  from  whose  bosoms  they 
had  drawn  life  in  infancy. 

Our  boarding-house  was  on  Walnut  street,  one  block 
west  of  the  theatre,  and  looked  toward  the  river.  On 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street  stood  a  two-story  brick 
house,  always  closed  except  when  a  negress  opened  and 
dusted  the  rooms.  I  never  saw  sadness  or  sorrow  un 
til  I  saw  that  face;  and  it  did  not  appear  except  about 
her  work,  or  when  she  emerged  from  a  side  gate  to  call 
in  two  mulatto  children,  who  sometimes  came  out  on 
the  pavement. 

This  house  belonged  to  a  Northern  u  mudsill,"  who 


5i  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

kept  a  grocery,  and  owned  the  woman,  who  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  of  whom  he  was  the  father. 
The  older  two  he  had  sold,  one  at  a  time,  as  they  be 
came  saleable  or  got  in  his  way.  On  the  sale  of  the 
first,  the  mother  "  took  on  so  that  he  was  obliged  to 
flog  her  almost  to  death  before  she  gave  up."  But  he 
had  made  her  understand  that  their  children  were  to 
be  sold,  at  his  convenience,  and  that  he  "  would  not 
have  more  than  three  little  niggers  about  the  house  at 
one  time." 

After  that  first  lesson  she  had  been  "reasonable." 

Our  hostess,  a  Kentucky  lady,  used  to  lament  the 
loss  of  two  boys — "  two  of  the  beautifulest  boys!" 

They  were  the  sons  of  her  bachelor  uncle,  who  had 
had  a  passion  for  Liza,  one  of  his  father's  slaves,  a 
tall,  handsome  quadroon,  who  rejected  his  suit  and  was 
in  love  with  Jo,  a  fellow  slave.  To  punish  both,  the 
young  master  had  Jo  tied  up  and  lashed  until  he  faint 
ed,  while  Liza  was  held  so  that  she  must  witness  the 
torture,  until  insensibility  came  to  her  relief.  This 
was  done  three  times,  when  Jo  was  sold,  and  Liza  her 
self  bound  to  the  whipping-post,  and  lashed  until  she 
yielded,  and  became  the  mother  of  those  two  beautiful 
boys. 

"But,"  added  her  biographer,  "she  never  smiled  af 
ter  Jo  was  sold,  took  consumption  and  died  when  her 
youngest  boy  was  two  months  old.  They  were  the 
beautifulest  boys  I  ever  laid  eyes  on,  and  uncle  sot 
great  store  by  them.  He  could  n't  bear  to  have  them 
out  of  his  sight,  and  always  said  he  would  give  them 
to  me.  He  would  have  done  it,  I  know,  if  he  had 
made  a  will ;  but  he  took  sick  sudden,  raving  crazy, 


HABITATIONS  OF  HORRID  CRUELTY.  55 

and  never  got  his  senses  for  one  minute.  It  often  took 
three  men  to  hold  him  on  the  bed.  He  thought  he 
saw  Jo  and  Liza,  and  died  cursing  and  raving." 

She  paused  to  wipe  away  a  tear,  and  added:  "The 
boys  were  sold  down  South.  Maybe  your  way,  up 
North,  is  best,  after  all.  I  never  knew  a  cruel  master 
die  happy.  They  are  sure  to  be  killed,  or  die  dread 
ful!"  „ 

She  had  an  old,  rheumatic  cook,  Martha,  who  seldom 
left  her  basement  kitchen,  except  when  she  went  to  her 
Baptist  meeting,  but  for  hours  and  hours  she  crooned 
heart-breaking  melodies  of  that  hope  within  her,  of  a 
better  and  a  happier  world. 

She  had  a  severe  attack  of  acute  inflammation  of  the 
eyelids,  which  forcibly  closed  her  eyes,  and  kept  them 
closed;  then  she  refused  to  work. 

Her  wages,  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  a 
year,  were  paid  to  her  owner,  a  woman,  and  these  went 
on;  so  her 'employer  sent  for  her  owner,  and  I,  as  an 
abolitionist,  was  summoned  to  the  conference,  that  I 
might  learn  to  pity  the  sorrows  of  mistresses,  and  un 
derstand  the  deceit-fulness  of  slaves. 

The  injured  owner  sat  in  the  shaded  parlor,  in  a 
blue-black  satin  dress,  that  might  almost  have  stood 
upright  without  assistance  from  the  flesh  or  bones  in 
side;  with  the  dress  was  combined  a  mass  of  lace  and 
jewelry  that  represented  a  large  amount  of  money, 
and  the  mass  as  it  sat  there,  and  as  I  recall  it,  has 
made  costly  attire  odious. 

This  bedizzoned  martyr,  this  costumer's  advertise 
ment,  sat  and  fanned  as  she  recounted  her  grievances. 
Her  entire  allowance  for  personal  expenses,  was  the 


56  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

wages  of  nine  women,  and  her  husband  would  not  give 
her  another  dollar.  They,  knowing  her  necessities, 
were  so  ungrateful ! — nobody  could  think  how  ungrate 
ful;  but  in  all  her  sorrows,  Martha  was  her  crowning 
grief.  She  had  had  two  husbands,  and  had  behaved 
so  badly  when  the  first  was  sold.  Then,  every  time 
one  of  her  thirteen  children  were  disposed  of,  she  "  did 
take  on  so;"  nobody  could  imagine  "  how  she  took  on! " 

Once,  the  gentle  mistress  had  been  compelled  to  send 
her  to  the  workhouse  and  have  her  whipped  by  the 
constable;  and  that  cost  fifty  cents;  but  really,  this 
martyr  and  her  husband  had  grown  weary  of  flogging 
Martha.  One  hated  so  to  send  a  servant  to  the  pub 
lic  whipping-post;  it  looked  like  cruelty — did  cruelty 
lacerate  the  feelings  of  refined  people,  and  it  was  so 
ungrateful  in  Martha,  and  all  the  rest  of  them,  to  tor 
ture  this  fine  lady  in  this  rough  way. 

As  to  Martha's  ingratitude,  there  could  be  no  doubt ; 
for,  to  this,  our  hostess  testified,  and  called  me  to  wit 
ness,  that  she  had  sent  her  a  cup  of  tea  every  day 
since  she  had  complained  of  being  sick;  yes,  "a  cup  of 
tea  with  sugar  in  it,"  and  yet  the  old  wretch  had  not 
gone  to  work. 

When  they  had  finished  the  recital  of  their  griev 
ances  they  came  down  to  business.  The  owner  would 
remit  two  week's  wages;  after  that  it  was  the  business 
of  the  employer  to  pay  them,  and  see  that  they  were 
earned.  If  it  were  necessary  now  to  send  Martha  to 
the  whipping-post,  the  lady  in  satin  would  pay  the 
fifty  cents;  but  for  any  future  flogging,  the  lady  in 
lawn  must  be  responsible  to  the  City  of  Louisville. 

"We  adjourned  to  the  kitchen  where  old  Martha 


HABITATIONS  OF  HOKEID  CRUELTY.  57 

stood  before  her  judge,  clutching  the  table  with  her 
hard  hands,  trembling  in  every  limb,  her  eyelids 
swollen  out  like  puff-balls,  and  offensive  from  neglect, 
her  white  curls  making  a  border  to  her  red  turban,  re 
ceiving  her  sentence  without  a  word.  As  a  sheep  be 
fore  her  shearers  she  was  dumb,  opening  not  her 
mouth.  Those  wrinkled,  old  lips,  from  which  I  had 
heard  few  sounds,  save  those  of  prayer  and  praise,  were 
closed  by  a  cruelty  perfectly  incomprehensible  in  its 
unconscious  debasement.  Our  hostess  was  a  leading 
member  of  the  Fourth  St.  M.  E.  Church,  the  other 
feminine  fiend  a  Presbyterian. 

I  promised  the  Lord  then  and  there,  that  for  life,  it 
should  be  my  work  to  bring  u  deliverance  to  the  cap 
tive,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are 
bound,"  but  all  I  could  do  for  Martha,  was  to  give  her 
such  medical  treatment  as  would  restore  her  sight  and 
save  her  from  the  whipping-post,  and  this  I  did. 

"While  I  lived  on  that  dark  and  bloody  ground,  a 
man  was  beaten  to  death  in  an  open  shed,  on  the  cor 
ner  of  two  public  streets,  where  the  sound  of  the 
blows,  the  curses  of  his  two  tormentors,  and  his  shrieks 
and  unavailing  prayers  for  mercy  were  continued  a 
whole  forenoon,  and  sent  the  complaining  air  shud 
dering  to  the  ears  of  thousands,  not  one  of  whom 
offered  any  help. 

A  brown-haired  girl,  Maria,  the  educated,  refined 
daughter  of  a  Kentucky  farmer,  was  lashed  by  her 
brutal  purchaser,  once,  and  again  and  again  for  chasti 
ty,  where  hundreds  who  heard  the  blows  arid  shrieks 
knew  the  cause.  From  that  house  she  was  taken  to 
the  work-house  and  scourged  by  the  public  execu- 


58  HALF  A  CENTTJBY. 

tioner,  backed  by  the  whole  force  of  the  United  States 
government.  Oh!  God!  Can  this  nation  ever,  ever 
be  forgiven  for  the  blood  of  her  innocent  children?' 

Passing  a  crowded  church  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon, 
I  stepped  in,  when  the  preacher  was  descanting  on 
the  power  of  religion,  and,  in  illustration,  he  told  of 
two  wicked  young  men  in  that  state,  who  were  drink 
ing  and  gambling  on  Sunday  morning,  when  one  said  : 

"  I  can  lick  the  religion  out  of  any  nigger." 

The  other  would  bet  one  hundred  dollars  that  he  had 
a  nigger  out  of  whom  the  religion  could  not  be  licked. 
The  bet  was  taken  and  they  adjourned  to  a  yard. 
This  unique  nigger  was  summoned,  and  proved  to  be 
a  poor  old  man.  His  master  informed  him  lie  had  a 
bet  on  him,  and  the  other  party  commanded  him  to 
"curse  Jesus?"  on  pain  of  being  flogged  until  he  did. 
The  old  saint  dropped  on  his  knees  before  his  master, 
and  plead  for  mercy,  saying: 

"Massa!  Massa!  I  cannot  curse  Jesus!  Jesus 
die  for  me!  He  die  for  you,  Massa.  I  no  curse  him; 
I  no  curse  Jesus!" 

The  master  began  to  repent.  In  babyhood  he  had 
ridden  on  those  old  bowed  shoulders,  then  stalwart  and 
firm,  and  he  proposed  to  draw  the  bet,  but  the  other 
wanted  sport  and  would  win  the  money.  Oh !  the 
horrible  details  that  that  preacher  gave  of  that  day's 
sport,  of  the  lashings,  and  fain  tings,  and  revivals,  with 
washes  of  strong  brine,  the  prayers  for  mercy,  and  the 
recurring  moan! 

"  I  no  curse  Jesus,  Massa!  I  no  curse  Jesus;  Jesus 
die  for  me,  Massa;  I  die  for  Jesus?" 

As  the  sun  went  down  Jesus  look  him,  and  his  mer- 


HABITATIONS  OF  HOKRID  CRUELTY.  59 

ciful  master  had  sold  a  worthless  nigger  for  one  hun 
dred  dollars.  But,  the  only  point  which  the  preacher 
made,  was  that  one  in  favor  of  religion.  When  it 
could  so  support  a  nigger,  what  might  it  not  do  for 
one  of  the  superior  race? 

For  months  I  saw  every  day  a  boy  who  could  not 
have  been  more  than  ten  years  old,  but  who  seemed  to 
be  eight,  and  who  wore  an  iron  collar  with  four  pro 
jections,  and  a  hoop  or  bail  up  over  his  head.  This 
had  been  put  on  him  for  the  crime  of  running  away; 
and  was  kept  on  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  that  crime. 
The  master,  who  thus  secured  his  property,  was  an 
Elder  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  and  led  the 
choir. 

The  principal  Baptist  preacher  owned  and  hired 
out  one  hundred  slaves;  toot  them  himself  to  the 
the  public  mart,  and  acted  as  auctioneer  in  disposing 
of  their  services.  The  time  at  which  this  was  done, 
was  in  the  Christmas  holidays,  or  rather  the  last  day 
of  the  year,  when  the  slaves'  annual  week  of  respite 
ended. 

A  female  member  of  the  Fourth  St.  Methodist 
church  was  threatened  with  discipline,  for  nailing  her 
cook  to  the  fence  by  the  ear  with  a  ten-penny  nail. 
The  preacher  in  charge  witnessed  the  punishment 
from  a  back  window  of  his  residence.  Hundreds  of 
others  witnessed  it,  called  by  the  shrieks  of  the  vic 
tim;  and  his  reverence  protested,  on  the  ground  that 
such  scenes  were  calculated  to  injure  the  church. 


60  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER   X. 

KENTUCKY  CONTEMPT  FOR  LABOR. — AGE,  23,  24 

To  A  white  woman  in  Louisville,  work  was  a  dire 
disgrace,  and  one  Sabbath  four  of  us  sat  suffering  from 
thirst,  with  the  pump  across  the  street,  when  I  learned 
that  for  me  to  go  for  a  pitcher  of  water,  would  be  so 
great  a  disgrace  to  the  house  as  to  demand  my  instant 
expulsion. 

I  grew  tired  doing  nothing.  My  husband's  business 
did  not  prosper,  and  I  went  to  a  dressmaker  and  asked 
for  work.  She  was  a  "New  England  woman,  and  after 
some  shrewd  questions,  exclaimed: 

"My  dear  child,  go  home  to  your  mother!  "What 
does  your  husband  mean?  Does  he  not  know  you 
would  be  insulted  at  every  step  if  you  work  for  a  liv 
ing?  Go  home — go  home  to  your  mother!" 

I  was  homesick,  and  the  kindness  of  the  voice  and 
eyes  made  me  cry.  I  told  her  I  could  not  leave  my 
husband. 

"  Then  let  him  support  you,  or  send  you  home  until 
he  can !  I  have  seen  too  many  like  you  go  to  destruc 
tion  here.  Go  home." 

I  said  that  I  could  never  go  to  destruction,  but  she 
interrupted  me: 

"You  know  nothing  about  it.  You  are  a  mere 
baby.  They  all  thought  as  you  do.  Go  home  to  your 
mother!" 

"But  I  never  can  go  to  destruction!  No  evil  can 
befall  me,  for  He  that  keepeth  Israel  slumbers  not  nor 
sleeps." 


KENTUCKY  CONTEMPT  FOE  LABOE.  61 

She  concluded  to  give  me  work,  but  said: 

"  I  will  send  it  by  a  servant.  Don't  you  come 
here." 

I  never  thrust  my  anti-slavery  opinions  on  any  one, 
but  every  Southerner  inquired  concerning  them,  and 
I  gave  true  answers.  There  were  many  boarders  in 
the  house,  and  one  evening  when  there  were  eighteen 
men  in  the  parlor,  these  questions  brought  on  a  warm 
discussion,  when  one  said  : 

"  You  had  better  take  care  how  you  talk,  or  we  will 
give  you  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers." 

I  agreed  to  accept  such  gratuitous  suit,  and  a  Mis 
sissippi  planter,  who  seemed  to  realize  the  situation, 
said  gently  : 

"  Indeed,  madam,  it  is  not  safe  for  you  to  talk  as 
you  do." 

When  reminded  of  constitutional  guarantees  for 
freedom  of  speech,  and  his  enjoyment  of  it  in  my 
native  State,  he  replied  : 

"There  is  no  danger  in  Pennsylvania  from  freedom 
of  speech,  but  if  people  were  allowed  to  talk  as  you 
do  here,  it  would  overthrow  our  institutions." 

There  were  mobs  in  the  air.  The  mayor  closed  a 
Sunday-school,  on  the  ground  that  in  it  slaves  were 
taught  to  read.  The  teacher,  a  New  England  woman, 
denied  the  charge,  and  claimed  that  only  free  children 
had  been  taught,  while  slaves  were  orally  instructed 
to  obey  their  masters,  as  good  Presbyterians,  who 
hoped  to  escape  the  worm  that  never  dies.  Her  de 
fense  failed,  but  seemed  to  establish  the  right  of  free 
colored  people  to  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet,  but 
there  was  no  school  for  them,  and  I  thought  to  estab 
lish  one. 


62  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Jerry  Wade,  the  Gault  House  barber,  was  a  mulatto, 
who  had  bought  himself  and  family,  and  acquired  con 
siderable  real  estate.  In  the  back  of  one  of  his  houses, 
lived  his  son  with  a  wife  and  little  daughter.  We 
rented  the  front,  and  mother  sent  me  furniture.  Th^ 
was  highly  genteel,  for  it  gave  us  the  appearance  of* 
owning  slaves,  and  Olivia,  young  Wade's  wife,  repre 
sented  herself  as  my  slave,  to  bring  her  and  her  child 
security.  As  a  free  negro,  she  labored  under  many 
disadvantages,  so  begged  me  to  claim  her. 

In  this  house  I  started  my  school,  and  there  were 
no  lack  of  pupils  whose  parents  were  able  and  willing  to 
pay  for  their  tuition,  but  ruffians  stood  before  the  house 
and  hooted  at  the  "  nigger  school."  Threatening  let 
ters  were  sent  me,  and  Wade  was  notified  that  his 
house  would  be  burned  or  sacked,  if  he  permitted  its 
use  for  such  purpose.  In  one  day  my  pupils  were  all 
withdrawn. 

After  this,  I  began  to  make  corsets.  It  was  a  joy 
tojfit  the  superb  forms  of  Kentucky  women,  and  my 
art-love  found  employment  in  it,  but  my  husband  did 
not  succeed,  and  went  down  the  river. 

A  man  came  to  see  if  I  could  give  work  to  his  half- 
sister,  for  whose  support  he  could  not  fully  provide. 
She  was  a  Fitzhugh, — a  first  Virginia  family.  Her 
father  had  died,  leaving  a  bankrupt  estate.  She  had 
learned  dressmaking,  and  had  come  with  him  to  Lou 
isville  to  find  work,  but  she  was  young  and  beautiful, 
and  he  dare  not  put  her  into  a  shop,  but  thought  I 
might  protect  her,  so  she  came  to  live  with  me. 

One  evening  an  old  and  wealthy  citizen  called  about 
work  I  was  doing  for  his  wife,  became  interested  in 


KENTUCKY  CONTEMPT  FOE  LABOR.  63 

me,  as  a  stranger  who  had  seen  little  of  Louisville,  and 
tendered  the  use  of  his  theatre-box  and  carriage  to  the 
young  lady  and  myself.  I  declined,  with  thanks. 
"When  he  had  taken  leave,  Miss  Fitzhugh  sprang  to  her 
frot,  and  with  burning  cheeks  and  flashing  eyes,  de 
manded  to  know  if  I  knew  that  that  man  had  insulted 
us  both.  I  did  not  know,  but  she  did,  and  would  tell 
Edward,  who  should  cowhide  him  publicly.  I  told  her 
that  if  Edward  attempted  that,  he  would  probably 
lose  his  life,  and  we  would  certainly  be  dragged  into 
a  police  court.  Even  if  we  had  been  insulted,  it  only 
proved  that  the  old  man  thought  we  were  like  himself 
— that  we  were  told  in  the  Psalms  that  wicked  men 
thought  God  was  like  themselves,  and  did  approve 
their  sin,  and  he  did  not  have  them  cowhided.  After 
a  moment's  reflection  she  sat  down,  exclaiming: 

"  Well,  you  are  the  strangest  woman  I  ever  did 
see!" 

We  never  again  saw  the  man,  and  I  hope  the  inci 
dent  helped  the  honest  Edward  in  his  loving  task  of 
protecting  the  fiery  Fitzhugh. 

My  husband's  trip  down  the  river  was  a  failure,  and 
he  went  back  home.  Remembering  he  had  heard  me 
say  I  could  do  so  much  better  at  corset-making  if  I 
could  buy  goods  at  wholesale,  he  sold  his  Wilkinsburg 
property  and  turned  the  proceeds  into  dry  goods.  To 
me  this  seemed  very  unwise,  but  I  tried  to  make  the 
best  of  it,  and  we  took  a  business  house  on  Fourth 
street.  I  cut  and  fitted  dresses,  and  with  a  tape-line 
could  take  a  measure  from  which  I  could  make  a  per 
fect  fit  without  trying  on.  I  soon  had  more  work  than 
I  could  do,  and  took  two  new  girls,  but  the  goods  were 


64:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

dead  stock.  My  husband  was  out  of  employment,  and 
tried  to  assist  in  my  business.  He  was  out  most  of 
the  day,  and  in  the  evening  wanted  to  retire  early.  I 
was  busy  all  day,  and  could  not  go  out  alone  after  dark, 
so  came  to  be  a  prisoner. 

One  warm  evening  I  was  walking  back  and  forth  in 
front  of  our  house,  though  I  knew  it  a  great  risk,  when 
a  man  overtook  me,  cleared  his  throat  as  if  to  speak, 
and  passed  on  to  the  lamp-post,  which  had  made  one 
limit  of  my  walk.  I  did  not  shorten  my  path,  and 
when  I  came  up  to  the  post  he  again  cleared  his  throat 
as  if  to  speak,  and  next  time  stepped  out,  lifted  his 
hat,  and  remarked: 

"A  very  pleasant  evening,  Miss." 

I  stopped,  looked  at  him,  and  said: 

"It  is  a  very  pleasant  evening;  had  yon  not  better 
walk  on  and  enjoy  it? " 

He  bowed  low,  and  answered: 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  madam.     I  was  mistaken." 

"  Pardon  for  what,  sir?  It  is  a  very  pleasant  eve 
ning;  please  to  pass  on." 

He  did,  and  I  walked  till  I  was  tired,  thinking  of 
all  the  sacrifices  I  had  made  to  be  my  husband's  house 
keeper  and  keep  myself  in  woman's  sphere,  and  here 
was  the  outcome!  I  was  degrading  him  from  his  po 
sition  of  bread-winner.  If  it  was  my  duty  to  keep  his 
house,  it  must  be  his  to  find  me  a  house  to  keep,  and 
this  life  must  end.  I  would  go  with  him  to  the  poor 
est  cabin,  but  he  must  be  the  head  of  the  matrimonial 
firm.  He  should  not  be  my  business  assistant.  I 
would  not  be  captain  with  him  for  lieutenant.  How 
to  extricate  myself  I  did  not  see,  but  extricated  I 
would  be. 


REBELLION.  65 

We  needed  a  servant.  A  Kentucky  "  gentleman," 
full  six  feet  three,  with  broad  shoulders  and  heavy 
black  whiskers,  came  to  say:  "  I  have  a  woman  I  can 
let  you  have  !  A  good  cook,  good  washah  and  ion  ah, 
fust  rate  housekeepah!  I  '11  let  you  have  ah  for  two 
hundred  dollahs  a  yeah ;  but  I  '11  tell  you  honest,  you  '11 
have  to  hosswhipah  youahself  about  twice  a  week,  for 
that  wife  of  youahs  could  nevah  do  anything  with  ah." 

"While  he  talked  I  looked.  His  suit  was  of  the  fin 
est  black  broadcloth,  satin  vest,  a  pompous  display  of 
chain,  seals,  studs  and  rings,  his  beaver  on  the  back 
of  his  head,  his  thumbs  in  the  arms  of  his  vest,  and 
feet  spread  like  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes. 

This  new  use  for  Pennsylvania  muscle  seemed  to 
strike  my  husband  as  infinitely  amusing,  for  he  burst 
out  laughing,  and  informed  the  "  gentleman  "  that  he 
did  not  follow  the  profession  of  whipping  women,  and 
must  decline  his  offer.  But  I  wanted  to  be  back  on 
free  soil,  out  of  an  atmosphere  which  killed  all  man 
hood,  and  furnished  women- whippers  as  a  substitute 
for  men. 

CHAPTEE  XL 

REBELLION.— AGE,  24. 

DUEING  the  late  spring  and  early  summer,  my  let 
ters  from  home  spoke  often  of  mother's  failing  health, 
and  in  July  one  came  from  her  saying  her  disease  had 
been  pronounced  cancer,  and  bidding  me  come  to  her. 
The  same  mail  brought  a  letter  from  Dr.  Joseph  Gaz- 
zam,  telling  me  she  was  certainly  on  her  death-bed,. 
5 


66  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  adding:  "Let  nothing  prevent  your  coming  to 
your  mother  at  once." 

I  was  hurt  by  this  call.  Was  I  such  a  monster  that 
this  old  family  friend  thought  it  necessary  to  urge  me 
to  go  to  my  dying  mother?  Stunned  and  stupified 
with  grief,  I  packed  my  trunk. 

My  husband  came  in  at  noon,  and  I  handed  him  the 
letters.  He  read  them  and  expressed  surprise  and 
sorrow,  and  I  told  him  to  hurry  to  the  wharf  and  see 
when  the  first  boat  started.  He  thought  I  should  not 
go  until  I  heard  again.  It  might  not  be  so  bad. 
Then,  after  reflecting,  said,  why  go  at  all,  if  there  was 
no  hope?  Of  what  use  could  I  be?  If  there  was 
hope,  he  would  agree  to  my  going,  but  as  there  was 
none,  he  must  object.  In  fact,  he  did  not  see  how  I 
could  think  of  leaving  him  with  those  goods  on  his 
hands.  How  could  1  be  so  ready  to  drop  all  and  not 
think  of  the  consequences,  for  what  could  he  do  with 
that  stock  of  dry  goods.  My  mother  pretended  to  be 
a  Christian,  but  would  take  me  away  from  my  duty. 
I,  too,  read  the  Bible,  but  paid  little  heed  to  its  teach 
ings.  He  brought  that  book  and  read  all  of  Paul's 
directions  to  wives,  but  rested  his  case  on  Epbesians, 
v,  22:  "  Wives  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  hus 
bands  as  unto  the  Lord.  For  the  husband  is  head 
of  the  wife  even  as  Christ  is  head  of  the  church; 
therefore,  as  the  church  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let 
the  wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  everything." 

"While  he  continued  his  comments,  I  buried  my  head 
in  pillows,  saying,  "  Lord  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to 
do?" 

Milton  epitomized  Paul  when  he  made  Eve  say  to 


REBELLION.  67 

Adam,  "Be  God  tliy  law,  tliou  mine;"  but  was  that 
the  mind  and  will  of  God?  Had  he  transferred  his 
claim  to  the  obedience  of  half  the  human  family? 
"Was  every  husband  God  to  his  wife?  "Would  wives 
appear  in  the  general  judgment  at  all,  or  if  they  did, 
would  they  hand  in  a  schedule  of  marital  commands? 

If  the  passage  meant  anything  it  meant  this :  One 
might  as  well  try  to  be,  and  not  to  be,  at  the  same 
time,  as  own  allegiance  to  God  and  the  same  allegi 
ance  to  man.  I  was  either  God's  subject  or  I  was  not. 
If  I  was  not,  I  owed  him  no  obedience.  Christ  as 
head  of  the  church  was  her  absolute  lawgiver,  and 
thus  saith  the  Lord,  was  all  she  dare  demand.  Was  I 
to  obey  my  husband  in  that  way?  If  so,  I  had  no 
business  with  the  moral  law  or  any  other  law,  save  his 
commands.  Christian  England  had  taken  this  view, 
and  enacted  that  a  wife  should  not  be  punished  for 
any  crime  committed  by  command,  or  in  presence  of 
her  husband,  "  because,  being  altogether  subject  to 
him,  she  had  no  will  of  her  own ;"  but  this  position 
was  soon  abandoned,  and  this  passage  stamped  as  spu 
rious.  Every  Christian  church  had  so  stamped  it,  for 
all  encouraged  wives  to  join  their  communion  with  or 
without  the  consent  of  their  husbands.  Thousands  of 
female  martyrs  had  sealed  their  testimony  with  their 
blood,  opposing  the  authority  of  their  husbands,  and 
had  been  honored  by  the  church.  As  for  me,  I  must 
take  that  passage  alone  for  my  Bible,  or  expunge  it. 

Then  and  there  I  cast  it  from  me  forever,  as  being 
no  part  of  divine  law,  and  thus  unconsciously  took 
the  first  step  in  breaking  through  a  faith  in  plenary 
inspiration. 


68  HALF  A  CEXTUKY. 

I  next  turned  to  the  book  in  general  for  guidance: 
"  Wives,  obey  your  husbands  ; "  "  Children  obey 
your  parents;"  "Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother.'7 
What  a  labyrinth  of  irreconcilable  contradictions! 
God,  in  nature,  spoke  with  no  uncertain  sound,  "  Go 
home  to  your  mother,"  and  my  choice  was  made  while 
my  husband  talked. 

I  said  that  if  he  did  not  see  about  a  boat  I  would. 
When  he  told  me  that  lie  had  a  legal  right  to  detain 
me,  and  would  exercise  it,  1  assured  him  the  at 
tempt  would  be  as  dangerous  as  useless,  for  I  was  go 
ing  to  Pittsburg. 

He  went  out,  promising  to  engage  my  passage,  but 
staid  so  long  that  I  went  to  the  wharf,  where  respecta 
ble  women  were  not  seen  alone,  saw  a  boat  with  a 
flag  out  for  Pittsburg,  engaged  a  berth,  and  so  left 
Louisville. 

CHAPTEE   XII. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHADOW  OF  DEATH. — AGE,  24, 25. 

MOTHER  was  suffering  when  I  reached  her,  as  I  had 
not  dreamed  of.  After  a  consultation,  Drs.  Gazzam 
and  Fahnestock  thought  she  could  not  live  more  than 
four  weeks;  but  Spear  said  she  might  linger  three 
months.  This  blanched  the  cheek  of  each  one.  Three 
months  of  such  unremitting  pain,  steadily  on  the  in 
crease,  was  appalling;  but  mother  faced  the  prospect 
without  a  murmur,  willing  to  bear  by  God's  grace  what 
He  should  inflict,  and  to  wait  His  good  time  for  de 
liverance.  I  was  filled  with  self-reproach,  for  I 
should  have  been  with  her  months  before. 


THE  YALLEY  OF  THE  SHADOW  OF  DEATH.       69 

In  a  few  days  my  mother-in-law  and  one  of  her 
daughters  came  to  see  how  long  I  proposed  to  stay, 
why  I  had  left  James  with  the  goods,  and  when  I 
would  go  and  take  charge  of  them.  They  had  had  a 
letter  from  him,  and  he  was  in  great  trouble.  She  was 
gentle  and  grave — inquired  minutely  about  our  nurs 
ing,  but  thought  it  expensive — dwelt  at  length  on  the 
folly  of  spending  time  and  money  in  caring  for  the 
sick  when  recovery  was  impossible.  Mother  could  not 
see  them,  and  they  were  off ended,  for  they  proposed 
helping  to  take  care  of  her,  that  I  might  return  to  my 
duty. 

Some  time  after  the  visit  of  my  mother-in-law,  her 
son-in-law — who  was  a  class-leader  and  a  man  of  prom 
inence  in  the  community — came  with  solemn  aspect, 
took  my  hand,  sighed,  and  said: 

"  I  heard  you  had  left  James  with  the  goods." 
Here  he  sighed  again,  wagged  his  head,  and  added: 

"But  I  couldn't  believe  it!"  and  without  another 
word  turned  and  walked  away. 

They  chose  to  regard  mother's  illness  as  a  personal 
grievance.  "The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard;" 
and  she,  having  sinned  against  the  saints,  must  bear 
her  iniquity,  and  thus  suffer  the  just  reward  of  her 
deeds. 

I  had  frequent  letters  from  my  husband,  and  he  was 
waiting  on  the  wharf,  watching  every  boat  for  my  ap 
pearance.  I  told  him  before  leaving  Louisville,  that 
I  never  would  return — never  again  would  try  to  live 
in  a  slave  State,  and  advised  him  to  sell  the  goods  at 
auction,  and  with  the  money  start  a  sawmill  up  the 
Allegheny  river,  and  I  would  go  to  him.  This  advice 


TO  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

lie  resented.  At  length  he  grew  tired  waiting,  and 
came  for  me.  It  is  neither  possible  nor  necessary  here 
to  describe  the  trouble  which  ensued,  but  I  would  not 
nor  did  not  leave  mother,  and  she  at  last  remembered 
the  protection  to  which  she  was  entitled  by  the  city 
government. 

"With,  all  mother's  courage,  her  moans  were  heart 
breaking.  No  opiate  then  known  could  bring  one  half- 
hour  of  any  sleep  in  which  they  ceased,  and  in  her 
waking  hours  the  burden  of  her  woe  found  vent  in  a 
low  refrain: 

"  My  Father!  is  it  not  enough?" 

Our  principal  care  was  to  guard  her  from  noise. 
The  click  of  a  knife  or  spoon  on  a  plate  or  cup  in  the 
adjoining  room,  sent  a  thrill  of  pain  to  her  nerve  cen 
tres.  Only  two  friends  were  gentle  enough  to  aid 
Elizabeth  and  me  in  .nursing  her,  as  she  murmured, 
constantly:  "  If  my  husband  were  only  here! " 

She  could  bear  no  voice  in  reading  save  Gabriel  Ad 
ams'  and  my  own.  I  read  to  her  comforting  passages 
of  Scripture,  and  said  prayers  which  carried  her  soul 
up  to  the  .throne,  and  fell  back  on  mine  in  showers  of 
dust  arid  ashes.  A  great  black  atheism  had  fallen  on 
me.  There  was  no  justice  on  earth,  no  mercy  in 
heaven. 

Her  house  was  in  Pittsburg,  on  Sixth  street,  a  little 
cottage  built  for  her  father  and  mother  when  they 
were  alone.  It  stood  back  in  a  yard,  and  rough  men 
in  passing  stepped  lightly — children  went  elsewhere 
with  their  sports — friends  tapped  on  the  gate,  and  we 
went  out  to  answer  inquiries  and  receive  supplies — 
prayers  were  offered  for  her  in  churches,  societies  and 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  SHADOW  or  DEATH.       71 

families.  The  house  was  a  shrine  consecrated  by  suf 
fering  and  sorrow. 

The  third  month  passed,  and  still  she  lingered.  For 
seven  weeks  she  took  no  nourishment  but  half  a  cup 
of  milk,  two  parts  water,  per  day.  Then  her  appetite 
returned  and  her  agony  increased,  but  still  with  no  la 
ment  save:  "My  Father!  Is  it  not  enough?" 

In  the  sixth  month,  January  17th,  1840,  relief  came. 
As  I  knelt  for  her  last  words,  she  said:  "Elizabeth?" 

I  replied,  "She  is  here,  dear  mother,  what  of  her?" 

Summoning  strength  she  said: 

"  Let  no  one  separate  you !"  then  looked  up  and 
said,  "  It  is  enough,"  and  breathed  no  more. 

As  her  spirit  rose,  it  broke  the  cloud,  and  the  di 
vine  presence  fell  upon  me.  The  room,  the  world  was 
full  of  peace.  She  had  been  caught  up  out  of  the 
storm;  and  "he  who  endureth  unto  the  end  shall  be 
saved." 

By  her  request,  I  and  a  dear  friend,  Martha  Camp 
bell,  prepared  her  body  for  burial,  and  we  wrapped 
her  in  a  linen  winding-sheet,  as  the  body  of  Christ  was 
buried — no  flowers,  no  decorations;  only  stern,  solemn 
Death. 

On  the  last  day  of  father's  life  he  had  said  to  her, 
"  Mary  you  are  human,  and  must  have  faults,  but 
whatever  they  are  I  never  have  seen  them." 

She  had  been  his  widow  seventeen  years,  and  by 
her  desire  we  opened  his  grave  and  laid  her  body  to 
mingle  its  dust  with  his,  who  had  been  her  only  love 
in  the  life  that  now  is,  and  with  whom  she  expected 
to  spend  an  eternity. 


72  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

GHAPTEE   XIII. 

"  LABOR — SERVICE  OB  ACT." — AGE,  25. 

MOTHER'S  will  left  everything  to  trustees,  for  the  use 
of  Elizabeth  and  myself.  She  had  wished  my  husband 
to  join  her  in  a  suit  for  the  recovery  of  father's  city 
property,  and  he  refused,  but  signed  a  deed  with  me 
conveying  my  interest  to  her.  This  claim  she  also 
willed  to  her  trustees  for  my  use.  He  felt  himself 
wronged  and  became  angry,  but  had  one  remedy. 
Being  the  owner  of  my  person  and  services,  he  had 
a  right  to  wages  for  the  time  spent  in  nursing  mother, 
and  would  file  his  claim  against  her  executors. 
*  I  do  not  know  why  I  should  have  been  so  utterly 
overwhelmed  by  this  proposal  to  execute  a  law  passed 
by  Christian  legislators  for  the  government  of  Chris 
tian  people — a  law  which  had  never  been  questioned 
by  any  nation,  or  state,  or  church,  and  was  in  full 
force  all  over  the  world.  Why  should  the  discovery 
ofjts  existence  curdle  my  blood,  stop  my  heart-beats, 
and  send  a  rush  of  burning  shame  from  forehead  to 
finger-tip?  Why  should  I  have  blushed  that  my  hus 
band  was  a  law-abiding  citizen  of  the  freest  country 
in  the  world?  Why  blame  him  for  acting  in  harmony 
with  the  canons  of  every  Christian  church — aye,  of  that 
one  of  which  I  was  a  member,  and  proud  of  its  history 
as  a  bulwark  of  civil  liberty?  Was  it  any  fault  of  his 
that  "  all  that  she  (the  wife)  can  acquire  by  her  labor- 
service  or  act  during  coverture,  belongs  to  her  hus 
band?"  Certainly  not.  Yet  that  law  made  me  shrink 
and  think  of  mother's  warning,  given  so  long  ago. 


"LABOR — SERVICE  OR  ACT."  73 

But  marriage  was  a  life-contract,  and  God  required  me 
to  keep  it  to  the  end,  and  said,  "  When  thou  passeth 
through  the  fire  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  the  floods 
shall  not  overflow  thee."  I  could  not  bear  to  have  a 
bill  sent  to  mother's  executors  for  my  wages,  but  I 
could  compromise,  and  I  did. 

He  returned  to  Louisville,  sold  the  goods,  went  on  a 
trading-boat,  and  joined  Samuel  in  Little  Rock.  While 
he  was  there  Samuel  died — died  a  Presbyterian,  and 
left  this  message  for  me: 

"  Tell  sister  Jane  I  will  meet  her  in  heaven." 

This  my  husband  transmitted  to  me,  and  was  deep 
ly  grieved  and  much  softened  by  his  brother's  death. 

Rev.  Isaiah  Niblock,  of  Butler,  Pa.,  a  distant  rela 
tive  and  very  near  friend,  asked  me  to  take  charge  of 
the  Butler  Seminary  and  become  his  guest.  My  sal 
ary  would  be  twenty -five  dollars  a  month,  and  this 
was  munificent.  Elizabeth  went  to  Pittsburg  to  school, 
and  I  to  Butler,  where  my  success  was  complete  and 
I  very  happy.  Among  my  pupils  were  two  daugh 
ters  of  my  old  patron,  Judge  Braden.  One  of  these, 
little  Nannie,  was  full  of  pleasant  surprises,  and 
"brought  down  the  house"  during  examination,  byre- 
citing  a  country  girl's  account  of  her  presentation  at 
court,  in  which  occurs  this  stanza: 

"And  there  the  King  and  I  were  standing 

Face  and  face  together; 
I  said,  'How  is  your  Majesty? 

It's  mighty  pleasant  weather! '  " 

By  Nannie's  way  of  giving  the  lines,  they  were  so 
fixed  on  my  memory  as  to  be  often  mingled  with 
solemn  reveries  in  after  years. 


74:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

Petitions  were  presented  in  the  Pennsylvania  Leg 
islature  for  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment.  Sen 
ator  Sullivan,  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which 
they  were  referred,  wrote  to  Mr.  E"iblock  for  the  scrip 
ture  view.  He  was  ill  and  requested  me  to  answer, 
which  I  did,  and  Mr.  Sullivan  drew  liberally  from  my 
arguments  in  his  report  against  granting  the  petitions. 
The  report  was  attacked,  and  I  defended  it  in  several 
letters  published  in  a  Butler  paper — anonymously— 
and  this  was  my  first  appearance  in  print,  except  a 
short  letter  published  by  George  D.  Prentiss,  in  the 
Louisville  Journal^  of  which  I  remember  nothing, 
save  the  strangeness  of  seeing  my  thoughts  in  print. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SWISSVALE. AGE,  2G,  27. 

IK  April,  1842,  my  husband  took  possession  of  the 
old  home  in  the  valley,  and  we  went  there  to  live. 
There  were  large  possibilities  in  the  old  house,  and 
we  soon  had  a  pleasant  residence.  I  had  the  furni 
ture  mother  left  me,  and  a  small  income  from  her 
estate.  The  farm  I  named  u  Swissvale,"  and  such  is 
the  name  thereof.  When  the  Pennsylvania  railroad 
was  built  it  ran  through  it,  but  not  in  sight  of  the 
house,  and  the  station  was  called  for  the  homestead. 

In  the  summer  of  '42  I  began  to  write  stories  and 
rhymes,  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "Jennie  Deans," 
for  The  Dollar  Newspaper  and  NeaVs  Saturday 
Gazette,  both  of  Philadelphia.  Reece  C.  Fleeson  pub 
lished  an  anti-slavery  weekly  in  Pittsburg,  The  Spirit 


SWISSVALE.  75 

of  Liberty,  and  for  this  I  wrote  abolition  articles  and 
essays  on  woman's  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness.  My  productions  were  praised,  and 
my  husband  was  provoked  that  I  did  not  use  my 
own  name.  If  I  were  not  ashamed  of  my  articles, 
why  not  sign  them?  He  had  not  given  up  the  idea 
that  I  should  preach.  Indeed,  he  held  me  accounta 
ble  for  most  of  the  evils  in  the  world,  on  the  ground 
that  I  could  overthrow  them  if  I  would. 

Elizabeth  was  married  in  June,  and  went  to  Ohio. 
In  the  autumn,  my  husband's  mother  and  the  boys 
came  to  live  with  us,  to  which  I  made  no  objection, 
for  "  honor  thy  father  and  mother "  was  spoken  as 
much  to  him  as  to  me.  Maybe  I  had  some  spiritual 
pride  in  seeing  that  she  turned  from  her  converted 
daughters,  who  were  wealthy  and  lived  near,  to  make 
a  home  with  unregenerate  me.  She  liked  my  house 
keeping,  and  "  grandmother,"  as  I  always  called  her, 
with  her  white  'kerchiefs  and  caps,  sitting  by  the  fire 
place  plying  her  knitting-needles,  became  my  special 
pride. 

My  husband  had  converted  the  Louisville  goods  in 
to  one  panther,  one  deer,  two  bears,  and  a  roll  of  u  wild 
cat  "  money.  It  was  not  very  good  stock  with  which 
to  begin  life  on  a  farm,  but  the  monotony  was  relieved 
by  a  hooking,  kicking  cow,  and  a  horse  which  broke 
wagons  to  splinters. 

Tom,  the  panther,  was  domiciled  in  the  corner  made 
by  the  old  stone  chimney  and  the  log  wall  of  the  house, 
close  to  the  path  which  led  to  the  garden.  The  bears 
were  chained  in  the  meadow  behind  the  house  and 
Billy,  the  deer,  ranged  at  will.  Tom  and  the  bears 


76  HALF  A  CENTTJBY. 

ate  pigs  and  poultry  so  fast  that  we  gave  up  trying  to 
raise  any,  while  Billy's  visits  to  the  garden  did  not 
improve  the  vegetables.  I  tried  to  establish  some 
control  over  Tom,  as  a  substitute  for  the  fear  he  felt 
for  his  master,  who  was  not  always  within  call,  and 
who  insisted  that  Tom  could  be  tamed  so  as  to  serve 
the  place  of  a  watch-dog.  Tom  had  been  quite  obe 
dient  for  Tom,  and  my  terror  for  him  had  abated. 

I  was  interested  in  the  heathen  of  India,  and  was 
president  of  a  society  which  met  in  Pittsburg.  Com 
ing  home  from  a  meeting,  I  was  thrown  out  of  a  bug 
gy  and  so  badly  hurt  that  I  was  kept  in  bed  six  weeks. 
When  I  began  to  go  out  on  crutches,  I  started  to  go  to 
the  garden,  and  forgot  Tom  until  I  heard  him  growl. 
He  lay  flat,  with  his  nose  on  his  paws,  his  tail  on  the 
ground  straight  as  a  ramrod,  save  a  few  inches  at  the 
tip,  which  wagged  slowly,  his  eyes  green  and  fiery,  and 
I  not  three  feet  from  his  head,  and  just  in  reach, 
even  if  his  chain  held;  but  I  had  seen  it  break  in  one 
of  those  springs  which  he  was  now  preparing  to  make. 
There  was  no  help  near!  He  would  spring  for  my 
head  and  shoulders.  If  these  were  out  of  his  way,  he- 
could  not  hold  me  by  my  dress  which  was  a  thin  mus 
lin  wrapper.  He  was  not  likely  to  leap  until  some 
thing  moved,  and  might  lie  there  sometime.  I  had 
heard  that  a  panther  will  not  jump  under  the  gaze  of 
a  human  eye,  so  I  looked  steadily  into  his,  while  I 
talked  to  him. 

"Tom!  Tom!  Down  sir,"  and  so  tried  to  recall  his 
knowledge  of  me. 

Fortunately  my  feet  were  a  little  in  advance  of  my 
crutches,  and  while  I  looked  and  talked,  holding  my 


SWISSVALE.  77 

body  motionless,  I  was  planting  nij  cratches  and 
throwing  my  weight  on  my  well  foot.  I  heard  the 
girl  coming  out  of  the  house  and  knew  the  time  had 
come.  "With  all  my  strength  I  swung  myself  back 
ward  as  he  made  the  leap.  His  hot  breath  rushed 
into  my  face,  his  fiery  eyes  glared  close  to  mine,  but 
his  chain  was  too  short.  Then  I  knew  I  had  no  mis 
sion  for  taming  panthers.  From  the  first  I  had  feared 
that  he  would  kill  some  child,  and  it  was  impossible 
to  prevent  them  trooping  to  see  him.  After  my  own 
narrow  escape  I  protested  so  strongly  against  keeping 
him,  that  my  husband  consented  to  sell  him  to  a  me  - 
nagerie;  but  those  which  came  were  supplied  with 
panthers,  and,  although  he  was  a  splendid  specimen, 
full  nine  feet  long,  no  sale  was  found  for  him. 

That  adventure  supplied  memory  with  a  picture, 
which  for  long  years  breathed  and  never  was  absent. 
If  it  was  not  before  me  it  was  in  some  corner,  and  I 
knew  Tom  was  crouched  to  spring  on  me;  his  fiery 
eyes  glared,  the  tip  of  his  tail  wagged,  and  he  was 
waiting,  only  waiting  for  me  to  move.  Often  when  I 
woke  at  night,  he  was  on  my  bed  or  in  a  corner  of  the 
room.  He  was  hidden  in  fence  corners  and  behind 
bushes  on  the  road-side,  and  Mary's  little  lamb  was 
never  half  so  faithful  as  my  phantom  panther. 

My  husband  could  not  understand  the  fear  I  felt, 
nor  realize  the  danger  of  keeping  him.  He  enjoyed 
his  own  mastery  over  him,  and  with  a  box  on  the  side 
of  the  head  he  made  Tom  whine  and  crouch  like  a 
spaniel.  I  have  often  wondered  that  in  all  the  accounts 
I  have  ever  read  of  fights  with  wild  animals,  no  one 
ever  planted  a  good  fist-blow  under  the  ear  of  his  four- 


78  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

legged  antagonist,  and  so  stretch  it  out  stiff  to  await 
his  leisure  in  disposing  of  it. 


CHAPTER   XY. 

WILLOWS  BY  THE  WATER-COURSES. — AGE,' 27. 

PENNSYLVANIA  customs  made  it  unmanly  for  a  man 
or  boy  to  aid  any  woman,  even  mother  or  wife,  in  any 
hard  work  with  which  farms  abounded  at  that  time. 
Dairy  work,  candle  and  sausage  making  were  done  by 
women,  and  any  innovation  was  met  with  [sneers.  I 
stubbornly  refused  to  yield  altogether  to  a  time-hon 
ored  code,  which  required  women  to  perform  out-door 
drudgery,  often  while  men  sat  in  the  house,  and  soon 
had  the  sympathy  of  our  own  boys;  for  it  was  often 
impossible  to  obtain  any  domestic  help,  though  Pitts- 
burg  "  charitable  "  people  supported  hundreds  of  wo 
men  in  idleness  who  might  have  had  homes  and  wages 
in  farm-houses. 

Much  of  the  natural  beauty  of  Swissvale  had  been 
destroyed  by  pioneer  improvements,  which  I  sought  in 
some  degree  to  replace.  I  loved  the  woods,  and  with 
my  little  grubbing-hoe  transplanted  many  wild  and 
beautiful  things.  This  my  mother-in-law  did  not  ap 
prove,  as  her  love  for  the  beautiful  was  satisfied  by  a 
flower  border  in  the  garden.  One  day  she  said : 

"James,  I  would  not  have  that  willow  in  that  cor 
ner.  The  roots  will  get  into  the  race.  It  is  the  real 
basket  willow,  and  if  you  cut  it  into  stubs  and  stick 
them  in  the  swamp,  you  can  sell  enough  willow  to  buy 
all  your  baskets." 


WILLOWS  BY  THE  WATER  COURSES.  79 

I  replied: 

"Grandmother,  you  forget  that  is  my  tree;  I  want 
it  to  drape  that  bare  knoll.  The  roots  will  run  below 
the  bed  of  the  race.  The  boys  can  get  plenty  of  stubs 
at  Flemming's." 

She  only  replied  by  a  "humph!"  and  next  day  I 
discovered  my  tree  had  been  sawed  into  pieces  and 
planted  in  the  swamp.  Words  would  not  restore  it, 
and  I  wasted  none;  but  next  morning  rose  early,  and, 
hatchet  in  hand,  went  to  the  parent  tree,  climbed  on  a 
fence  and  cut  off  a  limb,  which  I  dragged  home,  feel 
ing  glad  that  anything  had  brought  me  a  walk  on  such 
a  glorious  morning.  I  planted  the  main  stock  in  that 
corner,  then  put  about  a  hundred  twigs  in  the  swamp 
for  basket  willow.  In  a  few  days  my  second  tree  dis 
appeared,  and  I  brought  another,  for  a  tree  there  was 
indispensable,  and  I  hoped  to  make  my  husband  see  as 
1  did,  and  thought  I  had  won  his  consent  to  willows. 
So  I  went  up  and  down  the  race  and  runs,  putting  in 
twigs,  and  thinking  of  the  "  willows  by  the  water 
courses,"  and  Israel's  lament: 

"  By  Babel's  streams  we  sat  and  wept 

When  Zion  we  thought  on, 
In  midst  thereof  we  hanged  our  harps 
The  willow  trees  upon.1' 

I  was  banished  from  my  Zion,  never  permitted  to 
hear  the  teachings  of  my  old  pastor, Tor  which  my  soul 
panted  as  the  thirsty  hart  for  the  water  brooks,  and  in 
my  Babylon  I  wanted  willows.  Some  of  my  plantings 
were  permitted  to  remain,  and  Swissvale  is  now  noted 
for  its  magnificent  willows;  but  that  main  tree  was 
chopped  up  and  burned.  In  its  stead  I  planted  a  young 


80  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

chestnut,  where  it  still  stands,  a  thing  of  beauty  and 
joy  to  the  boys. 


CHAPTEK    XVI. 

THE  WATERS  GROW  DEEP. — AGE,  29. 

THE  plans  for  my  conversion  seemed  to  be  aided  by 
our  coming  to  the  farm,  as  I  fitted  up  the  "  prophet's 
chamber"  to  entertain  my  husband's  friends  in  his 
house.  There  were  two  preachers  in  the  circuit.  The 
eldest,  a  plain,  blunt  man,  began  on  his  first  visit  to 
pelt  me  with  problems  about  "  man-made  ministers  " 
and  Calvinism.  I  replied  by  citing  the  election  of 
Abraham,  Jacob,  and  the  entire  Jewish  nation,  and 
by  quoting  the  8th  chapter  of  Romans,  until  he  seemed 
to  despair  and  came  no  more,  for  they  could  not  ac 
cept  my  hospitality  while  I  refused  their  religion. 
The  other  circuit  rider  was  young,  handsome  and  zeal 
ous,  and  was  doing  a  great  work  in  converting  young 
girls.  On  his  first  visit  I  thought  him  rude.  On  his 
second,  he  inquired  at  table: 

"  Is  this  the  place  where  they  put  onions  into  every 
thing?" 

I  replied  that  we  used  none  in  tea  or  coffee.  When 
I  joined  him  and  my  husband  in  the  parlor,  he  waived 
his  hand  around  the  room  to  point  out  its  decorations 
and  said: 

"  Brother  James  tells  m&tkat  this  is  all  your  work. 
It  is  quite  wonderful,  and  now,  sister,  what  a  pity  it  is 
that  you  will  not  turn  your  attention  to  religion. 
You  seem  to  do  everything  so  well.'7 


WATERS  GEOW  DEEP.  81 

He  motioned  as  if  to  lay  his  hand  on  mj  shoulder. 
I  drew  back  and  said : 

"Excuse  me,  sir,  but  I  am  not  your  sister;  and  as 
for  your  religion  you  remind  me  with  it  of  Doctor 
Jaynes  and  his  hair  tonic." 

"  How  so,  sister?" 

"  Again  pardon,  but  I  am  not  your  sister.  Doctor 
Jaynes  uses  a  large  part  of  his  column  to  persuade  us 
that  it  is  good  to  have  good  hair.  No  one  disputes 
that,  and  he  should  prove  that  his  tonic  will  bring 
good  hair.  So  you  talk  of  the  importance  of  religion. 
No  one  disputes  this,  and  it  is  your  business  to  prove 
that  the  nostrum  you  peddle  is  religion.  I  say  it  is 
not.  It  is  a  system  of  will  worship.  Eeligion  is 
obedience  to  God's  law.  You  teach  people  that  they 
can,  and  do,  obey  this  law  perfectly,  while  they  do  not 
know  it.  Your  church  has  no  bibles  in  her  pews,  few 
in  her  families,  and  these  unread.  Preachers  and  all, 
not  one  in  twenty  can  repeat  the  ten  commandments. 
You  are  blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  and  must  all  fall 
into  the  ditch,  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge!" 

That  week  he  proposed  to  abandon  the  Swissvale 
meeting-house,  and  build  one  in  "Wilkinsburg,  giving 
as  a  reason  the  impossibility  of  keeping  up  a  congre 
gation  with  me  on  the  farm. 

Next  Conference  sent  Rev.  Henderson  as  presiding 
elder,  who  brought  in  a  new  era.  He  slept  in  the 
"prophet's  chamber,"  admired  my  pretty  rooms,  and 
said  nothing  about  my  getting  religion.  The  circuit 
preacher  was  of  the  same  mind,  an  earnest,  modest, 
young  man,  wrestling  with  English  grammar,  who  on 
his  first  visit  sought  my  help  about  adverbs,  while  my 
mother-in-law  looked  on  in  evident  displeasure. 


82  HALF  A  OENTUEY. 

To  lier  this  was  the  dawn  of  that  new  day,  in  which 
the  Methodist  church  rivals  all  others  in  her  institu 
tions  of  learning.  The  good  time  of  inspiration  was 
slipping  away.  What  wonder  that  she  clutched  it  as 
Jacob  did  his  angel?  There  in  that  house  she  had  for 
long  years  been  an  oracle  to  inspired  men,  and  now  to 
see  God's  Spirit  displaced  by  Kirkham's  grammar  was 
rank  infidelity.  The  Wilkinsburg  meeting-house  was 
being  built,  and  that  one  which  had  been  to  her  all 
that  the  temple  ever  was  to  Solomon,  would  be  left  to 
the  owls  and  bats — her  Zion  desolate.  Those  walls, 
made  sacred  by  visions  of  glory  and  shouts  of  triumph, 
would  crumble  to  ruin  in  the  clinging  silence.  How 
could  she  but  think  that  the  influence  was  evil  which 
could  bring  such  result? 

The  new  building  was  consecrated  with  much  cere 
mony.  The  two  Hendersons  staid  with  us,  and  on 
Sabbath  morning  consulted  me  as  to  the  best  way  of 
taking  up  subscriptions.  Mother-in-law  looked  on 
till  she  could  bear  it  no  longer,  and  said: 

"  Brother  Henderson,  if  you  mean  to  be  in  time  for 
love  feast,  you  must  not  stay  fooling  there." 

Both  men  sprang  to  their  feet,  hurried  away  and 
never  returned. 

General  Conference  at  its  session  in  Baltimore,  in 
1840,  passed  the  "  Black  Gag "  law,  which  forbade 
colored  members  of  the  church  to  give  testimony  in 
church-trials  against  white  members,  in  any  state 
where  they  were  forbidden  to  testify  in  courts.  Four 
members  of  the  Pittsburg  Conference  voted  for  it, 
and  when  my  husband  returned  from  the  dedication, 
I  learned  that  three  of  them  had  figured  prominently 


WATERS  GROW  DEEP.  83 

in  the  exercises,  and  he  had  refused  to  commune  on 
account  of  their  ministrations. 

Everything  went  smoothly  for  ten  days,  when  my 
husband  came  to  our  room,  where  I  sat  writing,  threw 
himself  on  the  bed  and  poured  out  such  a  torrent  of 
accusations  as  I  had  not  dreamed  possible,  and  of 
which  I  refrain  from  giving  any  adequate  description. 
I  looked  up  and  saw  that  he  was  livid  with  rage.  His 
words  appeared  the  ravings  of  a  mad  man,  yet  there 
was  method  in  them,  and  no  crime  in  the  calendar 
with  which  they  did  not  charge  me.  Butter  money 
was  not  accounted  for,  pickles  and  preserves  missing, 
things  about  the  house  were  going  to  destruction,  the 
country  was  full  of  falsehoods  and  I  had  told  them  all. 
It  was  all  a  blur  of  sound  and  fury,  but  in  it  stood 
out  these  words : 

"  You  ruined  Samuel,  and  now  you  are  trying  to 
ruin  the  boys  and  those  two  fool  preachers.  People 
know  it,  too,  and  I  am  ashamed  to  show  my  face  for 
the  talk." 

When  he  seemed  to  have  finished,  I  asked: 
"  How  long  since  you  learned  my  real  character?" 
This  spurred  him  to  new  wrath,  and  he  exclaimed : 
"  There   now,  that's  the  next  of  it.     You  will  go 
and  tell  that  I've  abused  you.     It's  not  me.     I  never 
suspected  your  honesty,  but  my  mother,  yes,  my  poor 
old  mother.    I  would  not  care,  if  you  could  only  be 
have  yourself  before  my  mother!  " 

I  sat  leaning  my  elbows  on  my  table  with  my  head 
in  my  hands,  and  the  words  "ruined  Samuel"  be 
came  a  refrain.  I  thought  of  the  danger  out  of  which 
I  had  plucked  him  while  in  Louisville,  of  the  force 


84:  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

with  which  I  had  grappled  him  with  hooks  of  steel, 
as  he  hung  on  the  outer  edge  of  that  precipice  of  dis 
sipation,  while  I  clung  to  the  Almighty  Arm  for  help. 
I  thought  of  the  tears  and  solemnity  with  which  this 
man  had  given  to  me  the  dying  message  of  that  res 
cued  brother.  Earth  seemed  to  be  passing  away,  and 
to  leave  no  standing  room.  I  was  teaching  school  in  the 
abandoned  meeting-house.  It  was  noon  recess  and  I 
must  hurry  or  be  late.  I  passed  into  the  hall  and  out 
of  the  house,  with  the  thought  "  I  cross  his  threshold 
now  for  the  last  time;"  but  I  must  remain  near  and 
finish  my  school,  when  I  would  be  present  to  meet 
those  monstrous  charges  before  the  world.  My  rev 
eries  did  not  interfere  with  my  school  duties,  and  when 
they  were  over  I  sat  in  the  old  meeting-house  or 
walked  its  one  aisle,  with  the  quiet  dead  lying  all 
around  me,  thinking  of  that  good  fight  which  I 
should  fight,  ere  I  finished  my  course,  and  lay  down 
to  rest  as  they  did.  But  the  sun  went  down,  the  long 
twilight  drew  on  the  coming  night,  and  I  was  home 
less.  "Where  should  I  go? 

I  thought  of  the  Burkhammers,  whose  little  son 
lay  among  the  dead  beside  me.  I  had  tended  him  in 
his  last  illness  and  prepared  his  body  for  burial.  They 
were  German  tenants  of  Judge  "Wilkins,  and  to  reach 
their  house  I  must  pass  through  the  dark  valley  over 
which  now  lay  a  new  pall.  There  were  lights  in  the 
house  as  I  passed,  and  Tom  rattled  his  chain  and  gave 
forth  one  of  those  shrieks  which  pierced  the  air  for  a 
mile.  I  was  glad  to  know  that  he  was  not  loose,  and 
that  it  was  only  my  phantom  which  crouched  in  every 
available  place,  ready  to  spring.  The  bears  bellowed 


WATEKS  GROW  DEEP.  85 

a  response  to  his  shriek,  but  I  did  not  hasten.  The 
stream,  so  loud  and  angry  on  that  night  of  ray  first  en 
trance  into  this  vale  of  tears,  was  now  low,  and  sang 
a  lullaby  of  angelic  music  as  I  crossed  it  on  step 
ping  stones.  On  the  hillside  it  was  almost  as  dark 
as  that  night  when  Father  Olever  stopped  and  felt  for 
the  bank  with  his  whip. 

The  Burkhammers  asked  no  questions,  and  I  went 
to  sleep  without  giving  any  account  of  my  strange 
visit,  but  about  midnight  I  awoke  myself  and  the 
whole  family  by  my  sobs.  They  gathered  around  my 
bed,  and  I  must  tell.  What  I  said  I  do  not  know,  but 
the  old  man  interrupted  me  with: 

"  Oh  tamm  Jim.  You  stay  here  mit  us.  My  old 
woman  und  me,  we  has  blenty.  We  dakes  care  of 
you.  Nopody  never  said  nodding  bad  about  you. 
Everypody  likes  you,  cans  you  is  bleasant  mit  every- 
pody." 

As  he  talked  he  drew  his  sleeve  across  his  eyes, 
while  his  wife  and  daughter  comforted  me.  I  would 
board  there  and  finish  my  school,  then  go  to  Butler 
and  take  the  seminary,  or  a  place  in  the  common 
school. 

I  saw  no  one  as  I  passed  my  late  home  next  morn 
ing.  In  school  the  first  exercise  was  bible,  reading 
verse  about  with  the  pupils.  The  xxv  (25)  chapter  of 
Matthew  came  in  order,  and  while  reading  its  account 
of  the  final  judgment,  I  saw  as  by  a  revelation  why 
this  trouble  had  been  sent  to  me,  and  a  great  flood  of 
light  seemed  thrown  across  my  path  before  me. 

Christ's  little  ones  were  sick  and  in  prison,  and  I 
had  not  visited  them !  Old  Martha,  standing  before 


86  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

her  judges,  rose  up  to  upbraid  me!  I  was  to  have  fol 
lowed  the  Lamb,  and  had  been  making  butter  to  add 
to  an  estate  larger  now  than  the  owner  could  use.  No 
wonder  she  thought  I  stole  the  money.  I,  who  had 
failed  to  rebuke  man-stealing,  might  steal  anything. 
That  meeting-house  which  I  had  been  helping  to  build 
by  entertaining  its  builders  and  aiding  them  about 
subscriptions,  it  and  they  were  a  part  of  a  great  man- 
thieving  machine.  I  had  been -false  to  every  principle 
of  justice;  had  been  decorating  parlors  when  I  should 
have  been  tearing  down  prisons!  /,  helping  Black 
Gagites  build  a  church! 

"  When  thou  a  thief  didst  see 
Thou  join'st  with  him  in  sin."' 

Thinking,  reaching  out  for  the  path  to  that  bas- 
tile  which  I  must  attack,  I  went  on  with  my  school 
duties  until  my  husband  walked  in  and  asked  why  I 
had  not  been  at  home.  I  was  worn  with  intense  strain, 
and  at  the  word  home,  burst  into  a  passion  of  tears. 
I  told  the  pupils  to  take  their  books,  and  leave,  there 
would  be  no  more  school,  and  I  could  hear  them  go 
around  on  tip-toe  and  whisper.  Twice  a  pair  of  little 
arms  were  thrown  around  me,  and  the  sound  of  the  re 
treating  footsteps  died  away  when  my  husband  laid  his 
hand  all  trembling  on  my  head.  I  threw  it  off  and 
begged  him  to  go  away,  his  presence  would  kill  me. 
He  would  not  go,  and  I  went  out  into  the  woods.  He 
followed,  and  said  he  had  never  charged  me  with  an 
evil  thought,  much  less  an  action,  was  the  most  loving 
of  husbands  and  the  most  injured  in  that  I  had  thought 
he  had  found  fault  with  ine.  He  might  have  spoken 
a  hasty  word,  but  was  it  right  to  lay  it  up  against  him? 


MY  NAME  APPEARS  IN  PRINT.  87 

I  still  begged  him  to  leave — that  I  should  die  if  he  did 
not.  He  went,  and  I  crossed  the  fields  to  the  house 
of  Thomas  Dickson,  thinking  that  from  it  I  could  get 
to  the  city  by  the  river  road  and  fly  any  where. 

Mrs.  Dickson  made  me  go  to  bed,  as  I  was  able 
to  go  no  where  else,  and  here  my  husband's  brother- 
in-law  found  me.  He  had  come  as  peace-maker,  and 
could  not  think  what  it  all  meant;  some  angry  words 
of  James  about  his  mother,  who  would  now  go  back  to 
live  with  him.  The  Dieksons  joined  him  with  entreat 
ies.  If  my  husband  had  injured  me,  he  was  very, 
very  sorry,  was  quite  overwhelmed  with  grief  for  the 
pain  he  had  cost  me.  Then  they  brought  down  the 
lever  of  scripture  and  conscience:  "If  thy  brother  of 
fend  thee  seventy  times  seven,"  and  I  yielded. 

My  husband  came  and  I  went  home  with  him  that 
evening,  expecting  that  my  mother-in-law  was  in 
stalled  in  her  new  home  on  the  hill;  but  she  met  and 
kissed  me  at  the  door,  and  I  did  not  care.  Nothing 
could  add  to  the  shudder  of  going  into  the  house,  and 
she  seemed  so  grieved  and  frightened  that  my  heart 
was  touched,  and  I  was  sorry  for  her  that  we  had  ever 
met. 

CHAPTEE    XVII. 

MY  NAME   APPEARS   IN   PRINT. — AGE,  29. 

IT  was  the  third  morning  after  my  return,  that  my 
head  would  not  leave  the  pillow.  Dr.  Carothers  came 
and  blistered  me  from  head  to  feet,  and  for  three  weeks 
I  saw  no  one  but  my  attendants  and  my  phantom 


88  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

panther.  He  never  left  me.  There  was  one  corner  of 
the  room  in  which  he  stayed  most,  and  sometimes 
there  was  not  room  for  his  tail  to  wag,  and  then  he 
moved  forward  where  I  could  not  see  his  head.  This 
troubled  me,  for  then  I  could  not  hold  him  with  my 
eyes.  At  night  they  were  two  balls  of  green  fire;  but 
they  had  always  been,  only  when  I  was  well  I  could 
turn  my  head  away,  now  I  could  not  move  it.  I  knew 
most  of  the  time  it  was  a  shadow  from  my  brain,  but 
was  glad  to  hear  Tom's  chain  rattle  and  feel  sure  it 
was  not  his  very  self. 

They  nursed  me  carefully,  and  I  lay  thinking  of  the 
"little  ones  sick  and  in  prison."  Old  Martha  came 
and  plead  with  me.  I  saw  Liza  and  Maria  under  the 
lash  for  the  crime  of  chastity,  and  myself  the  accom 
plice  of  their  brutal  masters.  I  pictured  one  of  them 
a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  appealing  to  that  church 
for  redress  and  spurned  under  the  "  Black  Gag,"  and 
I?  why  I  had  been  helping  men  who  voted  for  it  to 
build  a  meeting-house!  What  was  Peter's  denial  com 
pared  to  mine? 

The  case  arranged  itself  in  my  mind.  I  had  writ 
ing  materials  brought,  and  there,  with  my  head  fast 
on  the  pillow,  I  wrote  a  hexameter  rhyme  half  a  col 
umn  long,  arraigning  by  name  those  Black  Gag  preach 
ers,  painting  the  scene,  and  holding  them  responsible. 
I  signed  my  initials,  and  sent  it  to  Mr.  Fleeson,  with 
a  note  telling  him  to  give  my  name  if  it  was  inquired 
for. 

Our  "  Spirit"  did  not  come  that  week;  but  soon  my 
husband  came  to  my  room  with  a  copy  of  "  The  Pitts- 
burg  Gazette,"  in  which  was  an  editorial  and  letter 


Mr  NAME  APPEARS  IN  PKINT.  89 

full  of  pious  horror  and  denunciation  of  that  article, 
and  giving  my  name  as  the  author;  so  that  we  knew 
Mr.  Fleeson  had  published  the  name  in  full.  This 
was  my  first  appearance  in  print  over  my  own  signa 
ture,  and  while  I  was  shocked,  my  husband  was  de 
lighted,  even  though  he  knew  a  libel  suit  was  threat 
ened.  I  soon  went  to  Pittsburg,  saw  "William  Elder 
and  John  A.  "Wills,  the  only  anti-slavery  lawyers  in 
the  city.  They  said  the  article  was  actionable,  for  it 
had  brought  those  men  into  contempt.  Elder  added: 
"  They  are  badly  hurt,  or  they  would  not  cry  out  so 
loud." 

Both  tendered  their  gratuitous  services  for  my  de 
fense.  In  a  civil  suit  we  could  prove  the  truth  of  the 
charge,  and  they  could  get  nothing,  for  my  husband 
owned  no  property — everything  belonged  to  his  moth 
er — and  my  trustees  could  not  be  held  for  my  mis 
deeds.  Their  action  would  doubtless  be  criminal,  and 
I  would  probably  be  imprisoned.  I  went  home  and 
wrote  a  reply  to  the  Gazette,  which  it  refused  to 
publish,  but  it  appeared  in  the  Spirit.  I  reiterated, 
urged  and  intensified  my  charges  against  these  false 
priests,  until  they  were  dumb  about  their  injuries  and 
libel  ^suit,  but  of  that  original  article  I  never  could 
get  a  copy.  Every  one  had  been  sold  and  resold,  and 
read  to  rags,  before  I  knew  it  was  in  print. 

I  continued  to  write  for  the  "  Spirit,"  but  still  there 
did  not  seem  to  be  anything  I  could  do  for  the  slave. 
As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  be  about  the  house,  I  fell  in 
to  my  old  round  of  drudgery,  but  with  hope  and  pride 
shut  out  of  it.  Once  my  burden  pressed  so  that  I 
could  not  sleep,  and  rose  at  early  dawn,  and  sat  look- 


90  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ing  over  the  meadow,  seeing  nothing  but  a  dense,  white 
fog.  I  leaned  back,  closed  my  eyes  and  thought  how 
like  it  was  to  my  own  life.  When  I  looked  again,  oh, 
the  vision  of  glory  which  met  my  sight! 

The  rising  sun  had  sent,  through  an  opening  in  the 
woods,  a  shaft  of  light,  which  centred  on  a  hickory  tree 
that  stood  alone  in  the  meadow,  and  was  then  in  the 
perfection  of  its  golden  autumn  glory.  It  dripped 
with  moisture,  blazed  and  shimmered.  The  high 
lights  were  diamond  tipped,  and  between  them  and  the 
deepest  shadow  was  every  tint  of  orange  and  yellow, 
mingled  and  blended  in  those  inimitable  lines  of  nat 
ural  foliage.  Over  it,  through  it,  and  around  it,  rolled 
the  white  fog,  in  great  masses,  caressing  the  earth  and 
hanging  from  the  zenith  like  the  veil  of  the  temple  of 
the  Most  High.  All  around  lay  the  dark  woods,  fra 
ming  in  the  vision  like  serried  ranks  encompassing  a 
throne,  to  which  great  clouds  rolled,  then  lifted  and 
scudded  away,  like  couriers  coming  for  orders  and 
hastening  to  obey  them. 

John's  New  Jerusalem  never  was  so  grand!  No 
square  corners  and  forbidding  walls.  The  gates  were 
not  made  of  several  solid  pearls,  but  of  millions  of 
pearletts,  strung  on  threads  of  love,  offering  no  barriers 
through  which  any  soul  might  not  pass.  My  Patmos 
had  been  visited  and  I  could  dwell  in  it,  work  and 
wait;  but  I  would  live  in  it,  not  lie  in  a  tomb,  and 
once  more  I  took  hold  of  life. 

I  organized  a  society  at  which  we  read,  had  refresh 
ments  and  danced — yea,  broke  church  rules  and  prac 
ticed  promiscuous  dancing  minus  promiscuous  kiss 
ing.  Of  course  this  was  wicked.  I  roamed  the  woods, 


MEXICAN  WAR  LETTERS.  91 

brought  wild  flowers  and  planted  them,  set  out  berry 
bushes,  and  collected  a  large  variety  of  roses  and  lilies. 


CHAPTEK    XVIII. 

MEXICAN   WAR. — AGE,  30-32. 

JAMES  G.  BIRNEY  was  the  presidential  candidate  of 
the  "  Liberty  Party"  in  1844,  as  he  had  been  in  '40. 
During  the  campaign  I  wrote  under  my  initials  for 
The  Spirit  of  Liberty,  and  exposing  the  weak  part 
of  an  argument  soon  came  to  be  my  recognized  forte. 
For  using  my  initials  I  had  two  reasons — my  dislike 
and  dread  of  publicity  and  the  fear  of  embarrassing  the 
Liberty  Party  with  the  sex  question.  Abolitionists 
were  men  of  sharp  angles.  Organizing  them  was  like 
binding  crooked  sticks  in  a  bundle,  and  one  of  the 
questions  which  divided  them  was  the  right  of  women 
to  take  any  prominent  part  in  public  affairs. 

In  that  campaign,  the  great  Whig  argument  against 
the  election  of  Polk  was,  that  it  would  bring  on  a 
war  with  Mexico  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  and 
when  the  war  came,  Whigs  and  Liberty  Party  men 
vied  with  each  other  in  their  cry  of  "Our  Country, 
right  or  wrong! "  and  rushed  into  the  army  over  every 
barrier  set  up  by  their  late  arguments.  The  nation 
was  seized  by  a*military  madness,  and  in  the  furore, 
the  cause  of  the  slave  went  to  the  wall,  and  The 
Spirit  of  Liberty  was  discontinued.  Its  predecessor, 
The  Christian  Witness,  had  failed  under  the  suc 
cessive  management  of  William  Burleigh,  Dr.  Elder, 
and  Kev.  Edward  Smith,  three  giants  in  those  days, 


92  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

x  and  there  seemed  no  hope  that  any  anti-slavery  paper 
could  be  supported  in  Pittsburg,  while  all  anti-slavery 
matter  was  carefully  excluded  from  both  religious  and 
secular  press.  It  was  a  dark  day  for  the  slave,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  see  hope  for  a  brighter.  To  me,  it 
seemed  that  all  was  lost,  unless  some  one  were  espe 
cially  called  to  speak  that  truth,  which  alone  could 
make  the  people  free,  but  certainly  I  could  not  be  the 
messenger. 

For  years  there  had  run  through  my  head  the  words, 
"  Open  thy  mouth  for  the  dumb,  plead  the  cause  of 
the  poor  and  needy."  The  streams  sang  them,  the 
winds  shrieked  them,  and  now  a  trumpet  sounded  them, 
but  the  words  could  not  mean  more  than  talking  in 
private.  I  would  not,  could  not,  believe  they  meant 
more,  for  the  Bible  in  which  I  read  them  bid  me  be 
silent.  My  husband  wanted  me  to  lecture  as  did  Ab- 
by  Kelley,  but  I  thought  this  would  surely  be  wrong. 
The  church  had  silenced  me  so  effectuately,  that  even 
now  all  my  sense  of  the  great  need  of  words  could 
not  induce  me  to  attempt  it;  but  if  I  could  "plead  the 
cause "  through  the  press,  I  must  write.  Even  this 
was  dreadful,  as  I  must  use  my  own  name,  for  my  ar 
ticles  would  certainly  be  libelous.  If  I  wrote  at  all,  I 
must  throw  myself  headlong  into  the  great  political 
maelstrom,  and  would  of  course  be  swallowed  up  like 
a  fishing-boat  in  the  great  Norway  horror  which  dec 
orated  our  school  geographies;  for  no  woman  had  ever 
done  such  a  thing,  and  I  could  never  again  hold  up 
my  head  under  the  burden  of  shame  and  disgrace  which 
would  be  heaped  upon  me.  But  what  matter?  I  had 
no  children  to  dishonor;  all  save  one  who  had  ever  loved 


MEXICAN  WAR  LETTEBS.  93 

me  were  dead,  and  she  no  longer  needed  me,  and  if 
the  Lord  wanted-  some  one  to  throw  into  that  gulf,  no 
one  could  be  better  spared  than  I. 

The  Pittsburg  Commercial  Journal  was  the  lead 
ing  Whig  paper  of  western  Pennsylvania,  Robert  M. 
Riddle,  its  editor  and  proprietor.  His  mother  was  a 
member  of  our  church,  and  I  thought  somewhere  in 
his  veins  must  stir  anti-slavery  blood.  So  I  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  Journal,  which  appeared  with  an  editorial 
disclaimer,  "  but  the  fair  writer  should  have  a  hear 
ing."  This  letter  was  followed  by  another,  and  they 
continued  to  appear  once  or  twice  a  week  during  sev 
eral  months. 

I  do  not  not  remember  whom  I  attacked  first,  but 
from  first  to  last  my  articles  were  as  direct  and  per 
sonal  as  Nathan's  reproof  to  David.  Of  slavery  in  the 
abstract  I  knew  nothing.  There  was  no  abstraction 
in  tying  Martha  to  a  whipping-post  and  scourging  her 
for  mourning  the  loss  of  her  children.  The  old  Ken 
tucky  saint  who  bore  the  torture  of  lash  and  brine  all 
that  bright  Sabbath  day,  rather  than  "  curse  Jesus," 
knew  nothing  of  the  abstraction  of  slavery,  or  the  fine 
spun  theories  of  politeness  which  covered  the  most  re 
volting  crimes  with  pretty  words.  This  great  nation 
was  engaged  in  the  pusillanimous  work  of  beating  poor 
little  Mexico — a  giant  whipping  a  cripple.  Every 
man  who  went  to  the  war,  or  induced  others  to  go,  I 

i  C5     7 

held  as  the  principal  in  the  whole  list  of  crimes  of 
which  slavery  was  the  synonym.  Each  one  seemed  to 
stand  before  me,  his  innermost  soul  laid  bare,  and  his 
idiosyncrasy  I  was  sure  to  strike  with  sarcasm,  ridi 
cule  solemn  denunciations,  old  truths  from  Bible  and 


94:  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

history  and  the  opinions  of  good  men.  I  had  a  reck 
less  abandon,  for  had  I  not  thrown  myself  into  the 
breach  to  die  there,  and  would  I  not  sell  my  life  at  its 
full  value? 

My  style  I  caught  from  my  crude,  rural  surround 
ings,  and  was  familiar  to  the  unlearned,  and  I  was  not 
surprised  to  find  the  letters  eagerly  read.  The  Journal 
announced  them  the  day  before  publication,  the  news 
boys  cried  them,  and  papers  called  attention  to  them, 
some  by  daring  to  indorse,  but  more  by  abusing  Mr. 
Riddle  for  publishing  such  unpatriotic  and  "  incen 
diary  rant."  In  quoting  the  strong  points,  a  venal 
press  was  constrained  to  "  scatter  the  living  coals  of 
truth."  The  name  was  held  to  be  a  nom  deplume,  for 
in  print  it  looked  so  unlike  the  common  pronuncia 
tion  of  that  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the  county 
that  it  was  not  recognized.  Moreover,  it  mus  t  be  a 
disguise  adopted  by  some  man.  Wiseacres  said, one 
of  the  county  judges.  JSTo  western  Pennsylvania  wom 
an  had  ever  broken  out  of  woman's  sphere.  All  lived 
in  the  very  centre  of  that  sacred  enclosure,  making 
fires  by  which  husbands,  brothers  and  sons  sat  reading 
the  news;  each  one  knowing  that  she  had  a  soul,  be 
cause  the  preacher  who  made  his  bread  and  butter  by 
saving  it  had  been  careful  to  inform  her  of  its  exist 
ence  as  preliminary  to  her  knowledge  of  the  indispen 
sable  nature  of  his  services. 

But  the  men  whom  I  ridiculed  and  attacked  knew 
the  hand  which  held  the  mirror  up  to  nature,  and  also 
knew  they  had  a  legal  remedy,  and  that  to  their  fines 
and  imprisonment  I  was  as  indifferent  as  to  their  opin 
ions.  One  of  these,  Hon.  Gabriel  Adams,  had  taken 


MEXICAN  WAR  LETTERS.  95 

me  by  the  hand  at  father's  funeral,  led  me  to  a  stranger 
and  introduced  me  as: 

"  The  child  I  told  you  of,  but  eight  years  old,  her 
father's  nurse  and  comforter." 

He  had  smoothed  my  hair  and  told  me  not  to  cry; 
God  would  bless  me  for  being  a  good  child.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  session  when  I  joined  church;  his 
voice  in  prayer  had  soothed  mother's  hard  journey 
through  the  dark  valley;  and  now,  as  mayor  of  the 
city,  had  ordered  its  illumination  in  honor  of  the  bat 
tle  of  Buena  Yista,  and  this,  too,  on  Saturday  even 
ing,  when  the  unholy  glorification  extended  into  the 
Sabbath.  Measured  by  the  standards  of  his  profes 
sion  as  an  elder  in  the  church,  whose  highest  judica- 
tory  had  pronounced  slavery  and  Christianity  incom 
patible;  no  one  was  more  vulnerble  than  he,  and  of 
none  was  I  so  unsparing,  yet  as  I  wrote,  the  letter  was 
blistered  with  tears;  but 'his  oft  repeated  comment 
was: 

"  Jane  is  right,"  and  he  went  out  of  his  way  to  take 
my  hand  and  say,  "  You  were  right." 

Samuel  Black,  a  son  of  my  pastor,  dropped  his  place 
as  leader  of  the  Pittsburg  bar  and  rushed  to  the  war. 
My  comments  were  thought  severe,  even  for  me,  yet 
the  first  intimation  I  had  that  I  had  not  been  cast 
aside  as  a  monster,  came  from  his  sister,  who  sent  me 
a  message  that  her  father,  her  husband  and  herself,  ap 
proved  my  criticism.  Samuel  returned  with  a  colon 
el's  commission,  and  one  day  I  was  about  to  pass  him 
without  recognition,  where  he  stood  on  the  pavement 
talking  to  two  other  lawyers,  when  he  stepped  before 
me  and  held  out  his  hand.  I  drew  back,  and  he  said: 


96  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

"Is it  possible  you  will  not  take  nay  hand?" 

I  looked  at  it,  then  into  his  manly,  handsome  face, 
and  answered: 

"  There  is  blood  on  it;  the  blood  of  women  and  chil 
dren  slain  at  their  own  altars,  on  their  own  hearth 
stones,  that  you  might  spread  the  glorious  American 
institution  of  woman-whipping  and  baby-stealing." 

"  Oh,"  he  exclaimed,  "This  is  too  bad!  I  swear  to 
you  I  never  killed  a  woman  or  a  child." 

"  Then  you  did  not  fight  in  Mexico,  did  not  help  to 
bombard  Buena  Yista." 

His  friends  joined  him,  and  insisted  that  I  did  the 
Colonel  great  wrong,  when  he  looked  squarely  into  my 
face  and,  holding  out  his  hand,  said: 

"  For  sake  of  the  old  church,  for  sake  of  the  old 
man,  for  sake  of  the  old  times,  give  me  your  hand." 

I  laid  it  in  his,  and  hurried  away,  unable  to  speak, 
for  he  was  the  most  eloquent  man  in  Pennsylvania. 
He  fell  at  last  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  while  fight 
ing  in  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,for  that  freedom  he  had 
betrayed  in  Mexico. 

When  Kossuth  was  on  his  starring  tour  in  this  coun 
try,  he  used  to  create  wild  enthusiasm  by  "  Your  own 
late  glorious  struggle  with  Mexico;"  but  when  he 
reached  that  climax  in  his  Pittsburg  speech  a  dead  si 
lence  fell  upon  the  vast,  cheering  audience. 

The  social  ostracism  I  had  expected  when  I  stepped 
into  the  political  arena,  proved  to  be  Bunyan  lions. 
Instead  of  shame  there  came  such  a  crop  of  glory  that 
I  thought  of  pulling  down  my  barns  and  building 
greater,  that  I  might  have  where  to  store  my  new 
goods.  Among  the  press  notices  copied  by  the  Jour 
nal  was  this: 


TRAINING  SCHOOL.  97 

"The  Pittsburg  Commercial  Journal  has  a  new 
contributor  who  signs  her  name  c  Jane  G.  Swisshelm,' 
dips  her  pen  in  liquid  gold,  and  sands  her  paper  with 
the  down  from  butterflies'  wings." 

This  troubled  me,  because  it  seemed  as  though  I  had 
been  working  for  praise;  still  the  pretty  compliment 
gratified  ine. 

CHAPTEE  XIX. 

TRAINING    SCHOOL. 

PAUL  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus,  as  a  part  of  his 
training  for  that  "'good  fight "  with  principalities  and 
powers  and  iniquity  in  high  places,  and  I  think  that 
Tom  and  the  bears  helped  to  prepare  me  for  a  long 
conflict  with  the  southern  tiger.  I  had  early  come  to 
think  that  Tom  would  kill  some  of  the  children  who 
trooped  to  see  him,  and  that  I  should  be  responsible  as 
I  alone  saw  the  danger.  This  danger  I  sought  to  avert, 
but  how  to  dispose  of  the  beautiful  creature  I  could 
not  conjecture.  There  was  usually  a  loaded  gun  in  the 
house,  but  I  was  almost  as  much  afraid  of  it  as  of  Tom. 
All  our  neighbors  were  delighted  with  him  and  loath 
to  have  him  killed.  I  had  once  tried  to  poison  a  cat 
but  failed,  and  I  would  not  torture  Tom.  I  wanted 
Dr.  Palmer  to  give  me  a  dose  for  him,  but  he  declined. 
I  tried  in  vain  to  get  some  one  to  shoot  him.  Then  I 
thought  of  striking  the  great  beast  on  the  head  with  a 
hatchet,  while  he  had  hold  of  some  domestic  animal. 
The  plan  seemed  feasible,  but  I  kept  my  own  council 
and  my  hatchet,  and  practiced  with  it  until  I  could 
7 


98  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

hit  a  mark,  and  thought  I  could  bury  the  sharp  blade 
in  Tom's  skull. 

One  day,  all  the  men  were  in  the  meadow  making 
hay,  and  I  alone  getting  dinner.  John  McKelvey 
came  with  his  great  dog,  Watch.  He  went  up  into 
the  meadow,  and  Watch  staid  in  the  kitchen.  I  started 
to  go  to  the  garden  for  parsley,  and  found  Tom  crouched 
to  spring  on  a  cow.  He  made  the  leap,  came  short 
of  the  cow,  which  ran  away  bellowing  with  terror, 
and  Tom  had  but  touched  the  ground  when  Watch 
sprang  upon  him.  Itwas  a  sight  for  an  amphitheatre. 
The  two  great  creatures  rolled  in  a  struggle,  which  I 
knew  must  be  fatal  to  Watch,  but  thought  he  could 
engage  Tom's  attention  until  I  got  my  hatchet.  .  I  ran 
back  for  it,  took  the  dinner-horn  and  blew  a  blast 
that  would  bring  one  man,  and  I  did  not  want  a 
thousand.  Then  I  ran  back  to  the  scene  of  conflict, 
horn  in  one  hand,  hatchet  in  the  other,  and  lo!  no 
conflict  was  there.  No  Tom!  no  dog!  nothing  but 
the  torn  and  bloody  ground.  Horror  of  horrors,  there 
was  a  broken  chain!  Tom  loose!  Tom  free!  Now 
some  one  would  be  murdered.  I  turned  to  look,  and 
there  on  a  log  not  a  rod  from  me,  he  stood  with  head 
erect  and  tail  drooping,  his  white  throat,  jaws  and 
broken  chain  dripping  with  blood,  and  with  my  first 
thankfulness  that  he  had  not  escaped,  came  admiration 
for  the  splendid  sight:  the  bold,  sweeping  curves  and 
graceful  motion  as  he  turned  his  head  to  listen.  Then 
I  learned  panthers  went  by  sound,  not  scent.  I  blew 
another  blast  on  the  horn  and  went  toward  him,  for  I 
must  not  lose  sight  of  him.  If  he  attacked  me, 
could  I  defend  myself  with  the  hatchet?  When  they 


TRAINING  SCHOOL.  99 

found  me  I  would  be  horrible  to  look  upon,  and  it 
would  kill  Elizabeth.  Will  my  peas  burn?  The  flies 
will  get  into  that  pitcher  of  cream.  If  I  am  killed, 
they  will  forget  to  put  parsley  in  the  soup.  Tom 
changed  his  weight  from  one  fore-claw  to  the  other, 
and  gnashed  his  teeth.  "  Here,  the  king  and  I  are 
standing  face  and  face  together;  King  Tom,  how  is 
your  majesty,  it's  mighty  pleasant  weather." 

So  ran  my  thoughts  in  the  intense  strain  of  that 
waiting.  It  must  be  full  ten  minutes  before  Tom's 
master  could  get  to  the  house  after  that  first  blast,  and 
if  he  did  not  hear  that,  must  be  too  late;  but  Tom  kept 
his  place  and  my  husband  rushed  by  me,  carrying  the 
pitch/ork  with  which  he  had  been  at  work,  and  I  saw 
no  more  until  Tom  was  in  his  cage.  "Watch  had 
dragged  himself  to  his  master's  feet  to  die,  and  I  went 
into  the  house  and  finished  getting  dinner,  more  than 
ever  afraid  of  Tom  and  more  than  ever  at  a  loss  to 
know  how  to  get  rid  of  him.  Yet  he  still  lived  and 
rattled  his  chain  by  the  garden  path,  but  it  was  a  year 
before  our  next  adventure. 

One  summer  morning  at  sunrise  I  was  shocked  out 
of  sleep  by  shrieks  and  shouts  and  scurrying  feet.  I 
sprang  out  of  bed  and  rushed  into  the  hall  in  time  to 
see  Tom  dash  out  of  it  into  the  dining-room,  mother- 
in-law  and  the  girl  disappearing  up  stairs  and  the  two 
hired  men  through  the  barn  door.  My  husband  soon 
followed  Tom,  who  had  taken  refuge  under  a  large 
heavy  falling-leaf  table,  and  seemed  inclined  to  stay 
there.  This  time  his  collar  was  broken  and  feeling 
the  advantage  he  paid  no  heed  to  the  hand  or  voice  of 
his  quandom  master.  He  would  not  move,  but 


100  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

growled  defiance,  and  the  table  protected  him  from  a 
blow  under  the  ear,  so  his  late  master  became  utterly 
nonplussed.  If  the  cage  were  there,  the  great  beast 
would  probably  go  into  it,  but  how  get  it  there? 
The  wealth  of  India  would  not  have  induced  one  of 
those  men  to  come  out  of  that  barn,  or  one  of  those 
women  to  come  down  those  stairs. 

Something  must  be  done,  and  I  proposed  to  hold  Tom 
while  my  husband  brought  the  cage.  He  hesitated. 
I  was  not  in  good  fighting  trim,  for  my  hair  which 
was  long  and  heavy  had  fallen  loose,  but  preparation 
could  avail  nothing.  The  only  hope  lay  in  perfect 
coolness  and  a  steady  gaze.  I  knelt  and  took  hold  of 
Tom  by  the  back  of  the  neck,  talked  to  him  and  thought 
that  cage  was  long  in  coming.  He  shifted  his  weight 
and  seemed  about  to  get  up.  This  meant  escape,  and 
I  held  him  hard,  commanding  him  to  "lie  down,  sir." 
He  blinked  at  me,  seemed  quite  indifferent  and  alto, 
gether  comfortable.  By  and  by,  the  man  who  had 
ceased  to  be  master  returned  without  the  cage,  utterly 
demoralized;  and  was  here  without  a  weapon,  without 
a  plan.  I  resigned  my  place  and  told  him  I  would 
bring  a  rope.  This  I  intended  to  do,  and  also  my 
hatchet. 

I  had  but  gotten  half  way  to  the  front  door  when 
there  was  a  scuffle,  the  loud  voice  of  my  husband, 
shrieks  up  stairs,  rattling  of  furniture  and  crashing  of 
glass,  and  when  I  got  back  to  the  room  I  saw  the  tip 
of  Tom's  tail  disappearing.  He  had  gone  through  the 
window  and  taken  the  sash  with  him.  He  ran  into 
his  cage,  and  that  was  his  last  taste  of  liberty;  but  he 
lived  a  year  after,  chained  in  a  corn  crib.  Every  even- 


BIGHTS  OF  MAEEIED  ^"OMEN.  101 

ing  in  the  gloaming  he  would  pace  back  and  forth, 
raise  his  kingly  head,  utter  his  piercing  shriek,  then 
stop  and  hark  for  a  response;  walk  again,  shriek  and 
listen,  while  the  hears  would  bellow  an  answer. 

The  bears,  too,  were  often  exciting  and  interesting. 
Once  I  rescued  a  toddling  child  when  running  towards 
"  big  bear,"  and  not  more  than  two  feet  from  where  he 
stood  waiting  with  hungry  eyes.  At  another  time, 
they  both  broke  loose,  on  a  bitter  cold  day  when  I  was 
alone  in  the  house.  I  defended  myself  with  fire,  meet 
ing  them  at  every  door  and  window  with  a  hickory 
brand.  I  wondered  as  they  went  round  and  round  the 
house,  if  they  would  stop  in  the  chimney  corner,  and 
make  the  acquaintance  of  Tom;  but  they  took  no 
notice  of  him,  and  after  they  had  eaten  several  buckets 
of  porridge,  they  concluded  there  was  nothing  in  the 
house  they  wanted,  so  became  good  natured  and  went 
and  climbed  a  tree. 

Such  schoolmasters  must  have  imparted  a  flavor  of 
savagery  to  my  Mexican  war  letters,  which  attracted 
readers  as  Tom  did  visitors. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

EIGHTS   OF   MAKEIED  WOMEN. 

AFTEE  mother's  death,  I  prosecuted  to  a  successful 
issue  a  suit  for  the  recovery  of  the  house  in  which  I 
was  born.  It  stood  on  "Water  street,  near  Market,  and 
our  lawyer,  Walter  Lowrie,  afterwards  supreme  judge, 
was  to  have  given  us  possession  of  the  property  on  the 
1st  of  July,  1845,  which  would  add  eight  hundred 


102  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

dollars  a  year  to  the  income  of  my  sister  and  myself. 
But  on  the  10th  of  April,  the  great  fire  swept  away 
the  building  and  left  a  lot  bearing  ground  rent.  Prop 
erty  rose  and  we  had  a  good  offer  for  the  lease.  Every 
one  was  willing  to  sell,  but  the  purchasers  concluded 
that  both  our  husbands  must  sign  the  deed.  To  this 
no  objection  was  made,  and  we  met  in  William  Shinn's 
office,  when  my  husband  refused  to  sign  unless  my 
share  of  the" purchase  money  were  paid  to  him. 

Mother's  will  was  sacred  to  me.  The  money  he 
proposed  to  put  in  improvements  on  the  Swissvale 
mills.  These,  in  case  of  his  death  before  his  mother, 
would  go  to  his  brothers.  I  had  not  even  a  dower 
right  in  the  estate,  and  already  the  proceeds  of  my 
labor  and  income  from  my  separate  estate  were  put 
upon  it.  I  refused  to  give  him  the  money,  and  on  my 
way  alone  from  the  lawyer's  office  it  occurred  to  me 
that  all  the  advances  made  by  humanity  had  been 
through  the  pressure  of  injustice,  and  that  the  screws 
had  been  turned  on  me  that  I  might  do  something  to 
right  the  great  wrong  which  forbade  a  married  woman 
to  own  property.  So,  instead  of  spending  my  strength 
quarreling  with  the  hand,  I  would  strike  for  the  heart 
of  that  great  tyranny. 

I  borrowed  books  from  Judge  Wilkins,  took  legal 
advice  from  Colonel  Black,  studied  the  laws  under 
which  I  lived,  and  began  a  series  of  letters  in  the 
Journal  on  the  subject  of  a  married  woman's  right  to 
hold  property.  I  said  nothing  of  my  own  aifairs  and 
confined  myself  to  general  principles,  until  a  man  in. 
East  Liberty  furnished  me  an  illustration,  and  with  it 
I  made  the  cheeks  of  men  burn  with  anger  and  shame. 


EIGHTS  OF  MAEEIED  WOMEN.  103 

The  case  was  that  of  a  young  German  merchant 
who  married  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  farmer.  Her 
father  gave  her  a  handsome  outfit  in  clothes  and  furni 
ture.  She  became  ill  soon  after  marriage,  her  sister 
took  her  place  as  house-keeper  and  nursed  her  till  she 
died,  after  bequeathing  the  clothes  and  furniture  to 
the  sister;  but  the  sorrowing  husband  held  fast  to  the 
property  and  proposed  to  turn  it  into  money.  The 
father  wanted  it  as  souvenie  ot  his  lost  child,  and 
tried  to  purchase  of  him,  but  the  husband  raised  the 
price  until  purchase  was  impossible,  when  he  adver 
tised  the  goods  for  sale  at  vendue.  The  father  was  an 

O 

old  citizen,  highly  respected,  and  so  great  contempt 
and  indignation  was  felt,  that  at  the  vendue  no  one 
would  bid  against  him,  so  the  husband's  father  came 
forward  and  ran  up  the  price  of  the  articles.  When 
her  riding  dress,  hat  and  whip  were  held  up,  there  was 
a  general  cry  of  shame.  The  incident  came  just  in 
time  for  my  purpose,  so  I  turned  every  man's  scorn 
against  himself,  said  to  them: 

"Gentlemen,  these  are  your  laws!  Your  English 
ancestors  made  them!  Your  fathers  brought  them 
across  the  wrater  and  planted  them  here,  where  they 
flourish  like  a  green  bay  tree.  You  robbed  that  wife 
of  her  right  to  devise  her  own  property — that  husband 
is  simply  your  agent." 

Lucretia  Mott  and  Mary  A.  Grew,  of  Philadelphia, 
labored  assiduously  for  the  same  object,  and  in  the  ses 
sion  of  '47  and  '48,  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
secured  to  married  women  the  right  to  hold  property. 

Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  bill,  William  A.  Stokes 
said  to  me: 


104  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  We  hold  you  responsible  for  that  law,  and  I  tell 
you  now,  you  will  live  to  rue  the  day  when  you  opened 
such  a  Pandora's  box  in  your  native  state,  and  cast 
such  an  apple  of  discord  into  every  family  in  it." 

His  standing  as  a  lawyer  entitled  his  opinion  to  re 
spect,  and  as  he  went  on  to  explain  the  impossibility 
of  reconciling  that  statute  with  the  general  tenor  of 
law  and  precedent,  I  was  gravely  apprehensive.  The 
public  mind  was  not  prepared  for  so  great  a  change; 
there  had  been  no  general  demand  for  it;  lawyers  did 
not  know  what  to  do  with  it,  and  judges  shook  their 
heads.  Indeed,  there  was  so  much  doubt  and  opposi 
tion  that  I  feared  a  repeal,  until  some  months  after 
Col.  Kane  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  There  is  a  young  lawyer  from  Steubenville  named 
Stan  ton  who  would  like  to  be  introduced  to  you." 

I  was  in  a  gracious  mood  and  consented  to  receive 
the  young  lawyer  named  Stan  ton.  As  he  came  into 
the  room  and  advanced  toward  me,  immediately  I  felt 
myself  in  the  presence  of  a  master  mind,  of  a  soul  born 
to  command.  When  introduced  he  gravely  took  my 
hand,  and  said: 

"  I  called  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  passage  of 
your  bill.  It  is  a  change  I  have  long  desired  to  see." 

We  sat  and  talked  on  the  subject  some  time,  and 
my  fears  vanished  into  thin  air.  If  this  man  had 
taken  that  law  into  favor  it  would  surely  stand,  and 
as  he  predicted  be  "  improved  and  enlarged."  I  have 
never  been  so  forcibly  impressed  by  any  stranger. 
His  compactness  of  body  and  soul,  the  clear  outlines 
of  face  and  figure,  the  terseness  of  his  sentences,  and 
firmness  yet  tenderness  of  his  voice,  were  most  strik- 


PITTSBURG  SATURDAY  YISITEE.  105 

ing;  and  as  he  passed  down  the  long  room  after  tak 
ing  leave  my  thought  was: 

"  Mr.  Stanton  you  have  started  for  some  definite 
point  in  life,  some  high  goal,  and  you  will  reach  it." 

This  was  prophetic,  for  he  walked  into  the  War  De 
partment  of  this  nation  at  a  time  when  it  is  probable 
no  other  man  in  it,  could  have  done  the  work  there 
which  freedom  demanded  in  her  hour  of  peril,  for  this 
young  man  was  none  other  than  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
the  Ajax  of  the  great  Rebellion. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  PITTSBUKG   SATURDAY  VISITER. 

AFTER  the  war,  abolitionists  began  to  gather  their 
scattered  forces  and  wanted  a  Liberty  Party  organ. 
To  meet  this  want,  Charles  P.  Shiras  started  the 
Albatross  in  the  fall  of  '47.  He  was  the  "  Iron  City 
Poet,"  author  of  "  Dimes  and  Dollars  "  and  "  Owe  no 
Man  a  Dollar."  He  was  of  an  old  and  influential 
family,  had  considerable  private  fortune,  was  courted 
and  flattered,  but  laid  himself  and  gifts  on  the  altar 
of  Liberty.  His  paper  was  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
the  slave  and  of  the  free  laborer,  and  started  with 
bright  prospects.  He  and  Mr.  Fleeson  urged  me  to 
become  a  regular  contributor,  but  Mr.  Riddle  objected, 
and  the  Journal  had  five  hundred  readers  for  every 
one  the  Albatross  could  hope.  In  the  one  I  reached 
the  ninety  .and  nine  unconverted,  while  in  the  other 
I  must  talk  principally  to  those  who  were  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  faith.  So  I  continued  my  connec- 


106  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

tion  with  the  Journal  until  I  met  James  McMasters, 
a  prominent  abolitionist,  who  said  sorrowfully:  "Well, 
the  last  number  of  the  Albatross  will  be  issued  on 
Thursday." 

"Is  it  possible?" 

"Possible  and  true  !  That  is  the  end  of  its  first 
quarter,  and  Shiras  gives  it  up.  In  fact  we  all  do.  No 
use  trying  to  support  an  abolition  paper  here." 

While  he  spoke  a  thought  struck  me  like  a  lightning 
flash,  and  he  had  but  finished  speaking,  when  I  replied : 

"  I  have  a  great  notion  to  start  a  paper  myself." 

He  was  surprised,  but  caught  at  the  idea,  and  said : 

"  I  wish  you  would.  You  can  make  it  go  if  any 
body  can,  and  we'll  do  all  we  can  to  help  you." 

I  did  not  wTait  to  reply,  but  hurried  after  my  hus 
band,  who  had  passed  on,  soon  overtook  and  told  him 
the  fate  of  the  Albatross.  For  this  he  was  sorry, 
for  he  always  voted  a  straight  abolition  ticket.  I  re 
peated  to  him  what  I  had  said  to  Mr.  McMasters, 
when  he  said  : 

"  Nonsense ! "  then  reflected  a  little,  and  added, 
"  Well,  I  do  not  know  after  all  but  it  would  be  a  good 
idea.  Kiddle  makes  lots  of  money  out  of  your  letters." 

When  we  had  talked  about  five  minutes,  he  turned 
to  attend  to  business  and  I  went  to  the  Journal  office, 
found  Mr.  Riddle  in  his  sanctum,  and  told  him  the 
Albatross  was  dead;  the  Liberty  Party  without  an 
organ,  and  that  I  was  going  to  start  the  Pittsburg 
Saturday  Visiter;  the  first  copy  must  be  issued  Sat 
urday  week,  so  that  abolitionists  would  notjiave  time 
to  be  discouraged,  and  that  I  wanted  him  to  print  my 
paper. 


PITTSBUKG  SATURDAY  YISITEK.  107 

He  had  pushed  his  chair  back  from  his  desk,  and  sat 
regarding  me  in  utter  amazement  while  I  stated  the 
case,  then  said: 

"  What  do  you  mean?  Are  you  insane?  "What  does 
your  husband  say?" 

I  said  my  husband  approved,  the  matter  was  all 
arranged,  I  would  use  my  own  estate,  and  if  I  lost  it, 
it  was  nobody's  affair. 

He  begged  me  to  take  time  to  think,  to  send  my 
husband  to  him,  to  consult  my  friends.  Told  me  my 
project  was  ruinous,  that  I  would  lose  every  dollar  I 
put  into  it,  and  begged,  entreated  me  to  take  time; 
but  all  to  no  purpose,  when  a  bright  idea  came  to  him. 

"You  would  have  to  furnish  a  desk  for  yourself,  you 
see  there  is  but  one  in  this  room,  and  there  is  no  other 
place  for  you.  You  could  not  conduct  a  paper  and 
stay  at  home,  but  must  spend  a  good  deal  of  time 
here!" 

Then  I  suddenly  saw  the  appalling  prospect  thus 
politely  presented.  I  had  never  heard  of  any  woman 
save  Mary  Kingston  working  in  an  office.  Her  father, 
a  prominent  lawyer,  had  employed  her  as  his  clerk, 
when  his  office  was  in  their  dwelling,  and  the  situ- 
tion  was  remarkable  and  very  painful;  and  here  was 
I,  looking  not  more  than  twenty,  proposing  to  come 
into  the  office  of  the  handsome  stranger  who  sat  bend 
ing  over  his  desk  that  he  might  not  see  me  blush  for 
the  unwomanly  intent. 

Mr.  Eiddle  was  esteemed  one  of  the  most  elegant 
and  polished  gentlemen  in  the  city,  with  fine  physique 
and  fascinating  manners.  He  was  a  man  of  the  world, 
and  his  prominence  had  caused  his  name  to  become 


108  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  target  for  many  an  evil  report  in  the  bitter  per 
sonal  conflicts  of  political  life.  I  looked  the  facts 
squarely  in  the  face  and  thought: 

"  I  have  been  publicly  asserting  the  right  of  woman 
to  earn  a  living  as  book-keepers,  clerks,  sales-women, 
and  now  shall  I  shrink  for  fear  of  a  danger  any  one 
must  meet  in  doing  as  I  advised?  This  is  my  Bed 
Sea,  It  can  be  no  more  terrible  than  the  one  which 
confronted  Israel.  Duty  lies  on  the  other  side,  and  I 
am  going  over!  i  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that 
they  go  forward.'  The  crimson  waves  of  scandal,  the 
white  foam  of  gossip,  shall  part  before  me  and  heap 
themselves  up  as  walls  on  either  hand." 

So  rapidly  did  this  reflection  pass  through  my  mind, 
or  so  absorbed  was  I  with  it,  that  there  had  been  no 
awkward  pause  when  I  replied: 

"  I  will  get  a  desk,  shall  be  sorry  to  be  in  your  way, 
but  there  is  plenty  of  room  and  I  can  be  quiet." 

He  seemed  greatly  relieved,  and  said  cheerfully: 

"  Oh  yes,  there  is  plenty  of  room,  I  can  have  my 
desk  moved  forward  and  take  down  the  shutters,  when 
there  will  be  plenty  of  light.  Heretofore  you  have 
been  Jove  thundering  from  a  cloud,  but  if  you  will 
come  down  to  dwell  with  mortals  we  must  make  a 
place  for  you." 

Taking  down  the  shutters  meant  exposing  the  whole 
interior  of  the  room  to  view,  from  a  very  public  street ; 
and  after  he  had  exhausted  every  plea  for  time  to  get 
ready,  he  engaged  to  have  the  first  copy  of  the  Visiter 
printed  on  the  day  I  had  set.  He  objected  to  my  way 
of  spelling  the  word,  but  finding  I  had  Johnson  for 
authority,  would  arrange  the  heading  to  suit. 


PITTSBURG  SATURDAY  YISITEK.  109 

I  was  in  a  state  of  exaltation  all  forenoon,  and  when 
I  met  my  husband  at  dinner,  the  reaction  had  set  in, 
and  I  proposed  to  countermand  the  order,  when  he 
said  emphatically : 

"  You  will  do  no  such  thing.  The  campaign  is 
coming,  you  have  said  you  will  start  a  paper,  and  now 
if  you  do  not,  I  will." 

The  coming  advent  was  announced,  but  I  had  no 
arrangements  for  securing  either  advertisements  or 
subscribers.  Josiah  King,  now  proprietor  of  the 
Pittsburg  Gazette  and  James  H.  McClelland  called 
at  the  Journal  office  and  subscribed,  and  with  these 
two  supporters,  the  Pittsburg  Saturday  Visiter,  en 
tered  life.  The  mechanical  difficulty  of  getting  out  the 
first  number  proved  to  be  so  great  that  the  forms  were 
not  on  the  press  at  3  P.  M.  By  five  the  streets  were  so 
blocked  by  a  waiting  crowd,  that  vehicles  went  around 
by  other  ways,  and  it  was  six  o'clock,  Jan.  20th,  1848, 
when  the  first  copy  was  sold  at  the  counter.  I  was  in 
the  editorial  room  all  afternoon,  correcting  proof  to 
the  last  moment,  and  when  there  was  nothing  more  I 
could  do,  was  detained  by  the  crowd  around  the  doors 
until  it  was  after  eleven. 

Editors  and  reporters  were  gathered  in  the  sanctum, 
and  Mr.  Riddle  stood  by  his  desk  pointing  out  errors 
to  some  one  who  should  have  prevented  them,  when 
I  had  my  wraps  on  ready  to  start.  Mr.  Fleeson,  then 
a  clerk  on  the  Journal^  stepped  out,  hat  in  hand,  and 
bowing  to  the  proprietor,  said : 

"  Mr.  Riddle,  it  is  your  privilege  to  see  Mrs.  Swiss, 
helm  to  her  lodgings,  but  as  you  seem  to  decline,  I 
hope  you  will  commission  me." 


110  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Mr.  Fleeson  was  a  small  man  and  Mr.  Kiddle  had 
drawn  himself  to  his  full  height  and  stood  looking 
down  at  him,  saying: 

"  I  want  it  distinctly  understood  that  Mrs.  Swiss- 
helm's  relations  in  this  office  are  purely  those  of  busi 
ness.  If  she  requires  anything  of  any  man  in  it,  she 
will  command  him  and  her  orders  shall  be  obeyed. 
She  has  not  ordered  my  attendance,  but  has  kept  her 
servant  here  all  the  evening  to  see  her  to  her  friend's 
house,  and  this  should  be  sufficient  notice  to  any  gen 
tleman  that  she  does  not  want  him." 

During  the  ten  years  we  used  the  same  editorial- 
room.  Mr.  Riddle  was  often  absent  on  the  days  I 
must  be  there,  and  always  secured  plenty  of  light  by 
setting  away  the  shutters  when  I  entered.  He  gener 
ally  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  go  to  his  house  and 
settle  accounts,  and  never  found  it  convenient  to  offer 
his  escort  to  any  place  unless  accompanied  by  his  wife. 

The  Visiter  was  three  years  old  when  he  turned  one 
day,  examined  me  critically,  and  exclaimed: 

"  "Why  do  you  wear  those  hideous  caps?  You  seem 
to  have  good  hair.  Mrs.  Riddle  says  she  knows  you 
have,  and  she  and  some  ladies  were  wondering  only 
yesterday,  why  you  do  make  yourself  such  a  fright." 

The  offending  cap  was  a  net  scarf  tied  under  the 
chin,  and  I  said,  "You  know  I  am  subject  to  quinsy, 
and  this  cap  protects  my  tonsils." 

He  turned  away  with  a  sigh,  and  did  not  suspect 
that  my  tonsils  had  no  such  protection  outside  the 
office,  where  I  must  meet  a  great  many  gentlemen 
and  make  it  apparent  that  what  I  wanted  of  them 
was  votes !  votes ! !  Yotes  for  the  women  sold  on  the 


PITTSBURG  SATURDAY  YISITER.  Ill 

auction  block,  scourged  for  chastity,  robbed  of  their 
children,  and  that  admiration  was  no  part  of  my  ob 
ject. 

Any  attempt  to  aid  business  by  any  feminine  at 
traction  was  to  my  mind  revolting  in  the  extreme,  and 
certain  to  bring  final  defeat.  In  nothing  has  the 
church  of  Rome  shown  more  wisdom  than  in  the  cos 
tume  of  her  female  missionaries.  "When  a  woman 
starts  out  in  the  world  on  a  mission,  secular  or  reli 
gious,  she  should  leave  her  feminine  charms  at  home. 
Had  I  made  capital  of  my  prettiness,  I  should  have 
closed  the  doors  of  public  employment  to  women  for 
many  a  year,  by  the  very  means  which  now  makes 
them  weak,  underpaid  competitors  in  the  great  work 
shop  of  the  world. 

One  day  Mr.  Eiddle  said: 

"  I  wish  you  had  been  here  yesterday.  Robert 
Watson  called.  He  wanted  to  congratulate  us  on  the 
relations  we  have  for  so  long  maintained.  We  have 
never  spoken  of  it,  but  you  must  have  known  the  risk 
of  coming  here.  He  has  seen  it,  says  he  has  watched 
you  closely,  and  you  are  an  exception  to  all  known 
law,  or  the  harbinger  of  a  new  era  in  human  progress." 

Robert  Watson  was  a  retired  lawyer  of  large  wealth, 
who  watched  the  world  from  his  study,  and  philoso 
phized  about  its  doings;  and  when  Mr.  Riddle  had 
given  me  this  conclusion,  the  subject  was  never  again 
referred  to  in  our  years  of  bargaining,  buying  and 
selling,  paying*  and  receipting. 


112  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

RECEPTION  OF   THE  VISITEE. 

WHILE  preparing  matter  for  the  first  number  of  the 
Visitor,  I  had  time  to  think  that  so  far  as  any  organ 
ization  was  concerned,  I  stood  alone.  I  could  not 
work  with  Garrison  on  the  ground  that  the  Constitu 
tion  was  pro-slavery,  for  I  had  abandoned  that  in  1832, 
when  our  church  split  on  it  and  I  went  with  the  New 
School,  who  held  that  it  was  then  anti-slavery.  The 
Covenanters,  before  it  was  adopted,  denounced  it  as  a 
"  Covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell." 
I  had  long  ago  become  familiar  with  the  arguments  on 
that  side,  and  I  concluded  they  were  fallacious,  and 
could  not  go  back  to  them  even  for  a  welcome  into  the 
abolition  ranks. 

The  political  action  wing  of  the  anti-slavery  party 
had  given  formal  notice  that  no  woman  need  apply 
for  a  place  among  them.  True,  there  was  a  large 
minority  who  dissented  from  this  action,  but  there  was 
division  enough,  without  my  furnishing  a  cause  for 
contention.  So  I  took  pains  to  make  it  understood 
that  I  belonged  to  no  party.  I  was  fighting  slavery  on 
the  frontier  plan  of  Indian  warfare,  where  every  man 
is  Captain-lieutenants,  all  the  corporals  and  privates 
of  his  company.  I  was  like  the  Israelites  in  the  days 
when  there  was  no  king,  and  "every  man  did  that 
which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes." 

It  seemed  good  unto  me  to  support  James  G-.  Bir- 
ney,  for  President,  and  to  promulgate  the  principles  of 
the  platform  on  which  he  stood  in  the  last  election. 


RECEPTION  OF  THE  YISITEE.  113 

This  I  would  do,  and  no  man  had  the  right  or  power 
to  stop  me.  My  paper  was  a  six  column  weekly,  with  a 
small  Roman  letter  head,  my  motto,  "  Speak  unto  the 
children  of  Israel  that  they  go  forward,"  the  names  of 
my  candidates  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  column  and 
the  platform  inserted  as  standing  matter. 

It  was  quite  an  insignificant  looking  sheet,  but  no 
sooner  did  the  American  eagle  catch  sight  of  it,  than 
he  swooned  and  fell  off  his  perch.  Democratic  roosters 
straightened  out  their  necks  and  ran  screaming  with 
terror.  Whig  coons  scampered  up  trees  and  barked 
furiously.  The  world  was  falling  and  every  one  had 
"  heard  it,  saw  it,  and  felt  it." 

It  appeared  that  on  some  inauspicious  morning  each 
one  of  three-fourths  of  the  secular  editors  from  Maine  to 
Georgia  had  gone  to  his  office  suspecting  nothing,  when 
from  some  corner  of  his  exchange  list  there  sprang 
upon  him  such  a  horror  as  he  had  little  thought  to 
see. 

A  woman  had  started  a  political  paper!  A  woman! 
Could  he  believe  his  eyes?  A  woman!  Instantly  he 
sprang  to  his  feet  and  clutched  his  pantaloons,  shouted 
to  the  assistant  editor,  when  he,  too,  read  and  grasped 
frantically  at  his  cassimeres,  called  to  the  reporters 
and  pressmen  and  typos  and  devils,  who  all  rushed  in, 
heard  the  news,  seized  their  nether  garments  and  joined 
the  general  chorus,  "  My  breeches!  oh,  my  breeches! " 
Here  was  a  woman  resolved  to  steal  their  pantaloons, 
their  trousers,  and  when  these  were  gone  they  might 
cry  "  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods,  and  what  have  I 
more? "  The  imminence  of  the  peril  called  for  prompt 
action,  and  with  one  accord  they  shouted,  "  On  to  the 
8 


114  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

breach,  in  defense  of  our  breeches!  Repel  the  invader 
or  fill  the  trenches  with  our  noble  dead." 

"That  woman  shall  not  have  my  pantaloons,"  cried 
the  editor  of  the  big  city  daily;  "  nor  my  pantaloons  " 
said  the  editor  of  the  dignified  weekly ;  "  nor  my  panta 
loons,"  said  he  who  issued  manifestos  but  once  a 
month;  "  nor  mine,"  "  nor  mine,"  "  nor  mine,"  chimed 
in  the  small  fry  of  the  country  towns. 

Even  the  religious  press  could  not  get  past  the  tail 
or  shop,  and  "  pantaloons "  was  the  watchword  all 
along  the  line.  George  D.  Prentiss  took  up  the  cry, 
and  gave  the  world  a  two-third  column  leader  on  it,  sta 
ting  explicitly,  "  She  is  a  man  all  but  the  pantaloons." 
I  wrote  to  him  asking  a  copy  of  the  article,  but  re 
ceived  no  answer,  when  I  replied  in  rhyme  to  suit  his 
case: 

Perhaps  you  have  been  busy 
Horsewhipping  Sal  or  Lizzie, 
Stealing  some  poor  man's  baby, 
Selling  its  mother,  may-be. 
You  say — and  you  are  witty — 
That  I — and,  tis  a  pity — 
Of  manhood  lack  but  dress; 
But  you  lack  manliness, 
A  body  clean  and  new, 
A  soul  within  it,  too. 
Nature  must  change  her  plan 
Ere  you  can  be  a  man. 

This  turned  the  tide  of  battle.  One  editor  said, 
"  Brother  George,  beware  of  sister  Jane."  Another, 
"  Prentiss  has  found  his  match."  He  made  no  reply, 
and  it  was  not  long  until  I  thought  the  pantaloon  ar 
gument  was  dropped  forever. 

There  was,  however,  a  bright  side  to  the  reception  of 


MY  CROOKED  TELESCOPE.  115 

the  Visiter.  Horace  Greeley  gave  it  respectful  recog 
nition,  so  did  ~N.  P.  Willis  and  Gen.  Morris  in  the 
Home  Journal.  Hen  ry  Peterson's  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  Godey's  Lady's  Boole,  Graham's  and  '  Sargent's 
magazines,  and  the  anti-slavery  papers,  one  and  all, 
gave  it  pleasant  greeting,  while  there  were  other  edi 
tors  who  did  not,  in  view  of  this  innovation,  forget 
that  they  were  American  gentlemen. 

There  were  some  saucy  notices  from  "John  Smith," 
editor  of  The  Great  West,  a  large  literary  sheet  pub 
lished  in  Cincinnati.  After  John  and  I  had  pelted 
each  other  with  paragraphs,  a  private  letter  told  me 
that  she,  who  had  then  won  a  large  reputation  as  John 
Smith,  was  Celia,  who  afterwards  became  my  very 
dear  friend  until  the  end  of  her  lovely  life,  and  who 
died  the  widow  of  another  dear  friend,  Wm.  H.  Bur- 
leigh. 

In  the  second  number  of  the  Visiter,  James  H.  Mc 
Clelland,  as  secretary  of  the  county  convention,  pub 
lished  its  report  and  contributed  an  able  article,  thus 
recognizing  it  as  the  much  needed  county  organ  of  the 
Liberty  Party. 


CHAPTEE    XXIII. 

MY    CROOKED    TELESCOPE. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1847,  Dr.  Eobert  Mitchell,  of 
Indiana,  Pa.,  was  tried  in  Pittsburg,  in  the  United 
States  Court,  before  Judge  Grier,  for  the  crime  of  har 
boring  fugitive  slaves.  In  an  old  cabin  ten  miles  from 


116  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Indiana,  on  one  of  the  doctor's  farms,  some  colored 
men  had  taken  refuge  and  worked  as  harvest  hands  in 
the  neighborhood.  To  it  came  the  sheriff  at  mid 
night  with  a  posse,  and  after  as  desperate  a  resistance 
as  unarmed  men  could  make,  two  were  captured.  On 
one  of  these  was  found  a  note: 

"  Kill  a  sheep  and  give  Jerry  the  half. 

"  ROB'T  MITCHELL." 

The  name  of  the  man  who  had  the  note  was  Jerry. 
It  was  addressed  to  a  farmer  who  kept  sheep  for  the 
doctor,  so  it  was  conclusive  evidence  of  the  act  charged, 
and  the  only  defense  possible  was  want  of  knowledge. 
There  was  no  proof  that  Dr.  Mitchell  knew  Jerry  to 
be  a  slave,  none,  surely,  that  he  knew  him  to  be  the 
property  of  plaintiff,  who  was  bound  to  give  notice  of 
ownership  before  he  could  be  entitled  to  damages  from 
defendant. 

This  defense  Judge  Grier  overruled,  by  deciding 
that  no  notice  was  required,  the  law  presumed  a  guilty 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  defendant. 

Under  this  ruling  Dr.  Mitchell  was  fined  $5,000, 
and  the  costs,  which  were  $5,000  additional.  His 
homestead  and  a  magnificent  tract  of  pine  land  lying 
on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Alleghenies,  were  sold  by 
the  sheriff  of  Indiana  county  to  pay  the  penalty  of  this 
act  of  Christian  charity;  but  the  Dr.  said  earnestly, 
"  I'll  do  it  again,  if  they  take  every  dollar  I  have." 

This  ruling  was  alarming,  for  under  it,  it  was  unsafe 
either  to  sell  or  give  food  or  lodging  to  a  stranger. 
The  alarm  was  general,  and  even  pro-slavery  men  re 
gretted  that  this  necessary  act  of  justice  should  fall  so 
heavily  on  so  good  and  gentle  a  man.  There  was  much 


Mr  CROOKED  TELESCOPE.  117 

unfavorable  comment,  but  all  in  private,  for  the  Pitts- 
burg  press  quailed  before  Judge  Grier,  and  libel  laws 
were  the  weapon  with  which  he  most  loved  to  defend 
the  dignity  of  the  bench.  One  editor  he  had  kept  in 
jail  three  months  and  ruined  his  business.  Col.  Hiram 
Kane  was  a  brilliant  writer,  a  poet  and  pungent  para- 
graphist,  and  had  at  one  time  criticised  some  of  Judge 
Grier's  decisions,  when  by  a  libel  suit  the  Judge  had 
broken  up  his  business  and  kept  him  in  jail  eighteen 
months.  Public  sentiment  was  on  Kane's  side,  and 
he  had  an  ovation  on  his  release,  when  he  became  city 
editor  of  the  Journal. 

There  was  disappointment  that  I  had  not  criticised 
Judge  Grier's  course  in  the  first  number  of  the  Vis- 
iter,  but  this  was  part  of  my  plan.  In  the  second 
number  I  stated  that  there  had  been  for  a  long  time  a 
great  legal  luminary  visible  in  the  Pennsylvania  heav 
ens,  which  had  suddenly  disappeared.  I  had  been 
searching  for  him  for  several  weeks  with  the  best  tel 
escopes  in  the  city,  and  had  about  given  him  up  as  a 
lost  star,  when  I  bethought  me  of  Paddy,  who  had 
heated  his  gun-barrel  and  bent  it  around  a  tree  so  that 
lie  might  be  able  to  shoot  around  corners.  Paddy's 
idea  wras  so  excellent  that  I  had  adopted  it  and  made 
a  crooked  telescope,  by  which  I  had  found  that  lumi 
nary  almost  sixty  degrees  below  our  moral  horizon. 
From  this  I  proceeded  to  the  merits  of  the  case. 

Judge  Grier  and  Dr.  Mitchell  were  both  elders  in 
the  Presbyterian  church.  The  Judge  administered  to 
men  the  eucharist  oath  to  follow  Christ,  then  usurped 
the  law-making  power  of  the  United  States  to  punish 
them  for  obeying  one  of  the  plainest  precepts  of  the 
Master. 


118  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

The  article  seemed  to  throw  him  into  a  furious  pas 
sion.  He  threatened  to  sue  Mr.  Kiddle  for  having 
the  Visiter  printed  and  sold  in  his  office,  and,  as  for 
me,  I  was  to  suffer  all  the  pains  and  penalties  which 
law  and  public  scorn  could  inflict.  He  demanded  a 
satisfactory  retraction  and  apology  as  the  least  atone 
ment  he  could  accept  for  the  insult.  These  Mr.  Kid 
dle  promised  in  my  name,  and  I  did  not  hesitate  to 
make  the  promise  good. 

My  next  article  was  headed  "An  Apology/'  and  in 
it  I  stated  the  circumstances  which  had  called  it  out, 
and  the  pleasant  prospect  of  my  being  sent  to  Mount 
Airy  (our  county  jail)  in  case  this,  my  apology,  was 
not  satisfactory.  I  should  of  course  do  my  best  to 
satisfy  his  honor,  but  in  case  of  failure,  should  take 
comfort  in  the  fact  that  the  Mount  would  make  a  good 
observatory.  From  that  height  I  should  be  able  to 
use  my  telescope  much  better  than  in  my  present  val 
ley  of  humiliation.  Indeed,  the  mere  prospect  had  so 
improved  my  glass,  that  I  had  caught  a  new  view  of 
our  sunken  star,  and  to-day,  this  dispenser  of  justice, 
this  gentleman  with  the  high  sense  of  honor,  was  a 
criminal  under  sentence  of  death  by  the  divine  law. 
"  He  who  stealeth  a  man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be 
found  in  his  hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 

Judge  Grier  had  helped  a  gang  of  thieves  to  steal 
Jerry,  whose  ancestors  had  been  stolen  in  Africa. 
The  original  thief  sold  all  he  could  sell — the  title  of  a 
thief — and  as  the  stream  cannot  rise  above  the  foun 
tain,  Jerry's  master  held  the  same  title  to  him  that 
any  man  would  to  Judge  Grier's  horse,  provided  he 
had  stolen  it.  The  purchaser  of  a  stolen  horse  ac- 


MY  CROOKED  TELESCOPE.  119 

quired  no  title  in  him,  and  the  purchaser  of  a  stolen 
man  acquired  no  title  in  him.  The  man  who  helped 
another  steal  a  horse,  was  a  horse  thief,  and  the  man 
who  helped  another  steal  a  man,  was  a  man  thief, 
condemned  to  death  by  divine  law.  Jerry,  after  hav 
ing  been  once  stolen,  had  recovered  possession  of  him 
self,  and  his  master  and  other  thieves  had  re-stolen 
him!  Judge  Grier,  with  full  knowledge  of  this  fact, 
had  prostituted  law  for  the  benefit  of  the  thieves. 

Nothing  more  was  heard  of  a  libel  suit.  Two  years 
after,  James  McMasters  was  sued  for  harboring  a  fugi 
tive;  was  to  be  tried  before  Grier,  and  spoke  to  his 
lawyer  about  summoning  the  editor  of  the  Visiter. 
The  attorney  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh  bring  her,  by  all  means!  No  matter  what  she 
knows,  or  whether  she  knows  anything;  bring  her  into 
court,  and  I'll  win  the  case  for  yon.  Grier  is  more 
afraid  of  her  than  of  the  devil." 

The  editor  was  summoned,  gave  testimony,  and 
found  Judge  Grier  a  most  courteous  and  considerate 
gentleman,  with  no  signs  of  fear.  The  case  hung 
on  the  question  of  notice.  The  Judge  reversed  his 
former  decision,  and  those  who  were  apt  to  feed  beg 
gars,  breathed  more  freely. 

A  case  was  tried  for  the  remanding  of  a  slave,  and 
lawyer  Snowden  appeared  for  the  master.  The  Visiter 
sketched  the  lawyer  as  his  client's  dog,  Towser;  a  dog 
of  the  blood-hound  breed,  with  a  brand  new  brass 
collar,  running  with  his  nose  to  the  ground,  while  his 
owner  clapped  his  hands  and  shouted:  "Seek  him, 
seek  him  Towser  !  " 

This  caught  the  fancy  of  the  street  boys,  who  called 


120  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

him,  " Towser,  where's  your  collar?"  "Seek  him, 
Towser."  He  was  the  last  Pittsburg  lawyer  who  took 
a  case  against  a  slave,  and  public  sentiment  had  so  ad 
vanced  that  there  never  afterwards  was  a  fugitive 
taken  out  of  the  county. 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

MINT,    CUMMIN    AND    ANNIS. 

WHILE  the  bench  and  bar  were  thus  demanding  the 
attention  of  the  Visiter,  the  pulpit  was  examining  its 
morals  with  a  microscope,  and  defending  the  sum  of 
all  villainies  as  a  Bible  institution.  The  American 
churches,  with  three  exceptions,  not  only  neglected 
"the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment  and 
mercy,"  but  were  the  main  defense  of  the  grossest  in 
justice,  the  most  revolting  cruelty;  and,  to  maintain  an 
appearance  of  sanctity,  were  particularly  devout  and 
searching  in  the  investigation  of  small  sins. 

A  religious  contemporary  discovered  that  the  Visiter 
did  actually  advertise  "  Jayne's  Expectorant,"  and  such 
an  expectoration  of  pious  reprehension  as  this  did  call 
forth!  The  Yisiter  denied  that  the  advertisement  was 
immoral,  and  carried  the  war  into  Africa — that  old  man- 
stealing  Africa — and  there  took  the  ground  that  chattel 
slavery  never  did  exist  among  the  Jews;  that  what  we 
now  charge  upon  them  as  such  was  a  system  of  bonded 
servitude;  that  the  contract  was  originally  between  mas 
ter  and  servant;  the  consideration  of  the  labor  paid  to 
the  servant;  that  in  all  cases  of  transfer,  the  master  sold 
to  another  that  portion  of  the  time  and  labor  of  the  ser- 


FKEE  SOIL  PAETY.  121 

vant,  which  were  still  due;  that  there  was  no  hint  of 
any  man  selling  a  free  man  into  slavery  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  seller:  that  the  servants  bought  from  "the 
heathen  around  about,"  were  bought  from  themselves, 
or  in  part  at  least,  for  their  benefit,  to  bring  them  un 
der  general  law  and  into  the  church;  that  nothing  like 
American  slavery  was  ever  known  in  the  days  of  Mos 
es,  or  any  other  day  than  that  of  this  great  Republic, 
since  our  slavery  was  "  the  vilest  that  ever  saw  the 
sun,"  John  "Wesley  being  witness. 

The  Visiter  cited  the  purchase  by  Joseph  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Egypt,  and  Leviticus  xxv,  xxxix :  "  If  thy  brother 
be  waxen  poor  and  sell  himself  unto  thee."  The  Bible 
had  not  then  been  changed  to  suit  the  exigencies  of 
slavery.  In  later  editions,  "  sell  himself"  is  converted 
into  "be  sold,"  but  as  the  passage  then  stood  it  was  a 
sledge-hammer  with  which  one  might  beat  the  whole 
pro-slavery  Bible  argument  into  atoms,  and  while  the 
Visiter  used  it  with  all  the  force  it  could  command,  it 
took  the  ground  that  if  the  Bible  did  sanction  slavery, 
the  Bible  must  be  wrong,  since  nothing  could  make 
slavery  right. 

CHAPTER   XXY. 

FEEE    SOIL    PARTY. 

THE  Free  Soil  or  Barnburner  party  was  organized 
in  J48,  and  nominated  Martin  Yan  Buren  for  President. 
The  Visiter  dropped  its  Birney  flag  and  raised  the  Yan 
Buren  standard.  In  supporting  him  the  editor  of  the 
Visiter  was  charged  with  being  false  to  the  cause  of 


122  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

the  slave,  and  of  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  "Whigs. 
All  the  editor  had  ever  said  about  that  pro-slavery 
ex-President  was  cast  into  its  teeth  by  Democratic, 
Liberty  Party  and  Garrisonian  papers,  which,  one  and 
all,  held  that  Van  Buren  was  a  cunning  old  fox,  as  pro- 
slavery  as  in  those  days  when,  as  President  of  the  U. 
S.  Senate,  he  gave  his  casting  vote  for  the  bill  which 
authorized  every  Southern  post-master  to  open  all  the 
mail  which  came  to  his  office,  search  for  and  destroy 
any  matter  that  he  might  think  dangerous  to  Southern 
institutions.  In  his  present  hostility  to  slavery,  he 
was  actuated  by  personal  hatred  of  Louis  Cass,  the 
Democratic  candidate,  and  sought  to  draw  off  enough 
Democratic  votes  to  defeat  him. 

The  object  of  the  Visiter  in  supporting  Yan  Bu 
ren  was  to  smash  one  of  the  great  pro-slavery  par 
ties  of  the  nation,  or  gain  an  anti-slavery  balance  of 
power  to  counteract  the  slavery  vote  for  which  both 
contended.  A  few  thousand  reliable  votes  would  com 
pel  one  party  to  take  anti-slavery  ground.  The  Yan 
Buren  movement  was  almost  certain  to  defeat  the  Dem 
ocrats,  and  force  the  Whigs  to  seek  our  alliance.  True, 
the  Free  Soil  platform  did  not  suit  Liberty  Party  men, 
who  said  it  simply  proposed  to  confine  slavery  to  its 
present  limits,  and  not  destroy  it  where  it  already  ex 
isted. 

To  all  of  which,  and  much  more,  the  little  Visiter 
replied,  that  with  Yan  Buren 's  motives  it  had 
nothing  to  do.  His  present  attitude  was  one  of  hos 
tility  to  the  spread  of  slavery,  and  this  being  a  long 
step  in  advance  of  other  parties,  was  a  position  desir 
able  to  gain  and  hold.  To  decline  aiding  those  who 


FREE  SOIL  PARTY.  123 

proposed  to  circumscribe  slavery  because  they  did  not 
propose  its  destruction,  was  as  if  a  soldier  should  re 
fuse  to  storm  an  outpost  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not 
the  citadel. 

Checking  the  advance  of  an  enemy  was  one  step 
toward  driving  him  off  the  field,  and  a  rusty  cannon 
might  be  worth  several  bright-barreled  muskets  in 
holding  him  at  bay.  The  Lord  punished  Israel  by  the 
hand  of  Jehu  and  Hazael,  both  wicked  men.  Slavery 
was  bursting  her  bounds,  coming  over  on  us  like  the 
sea  on  Holland.  One  v^ery  dirty  shovel  might  be  worth 
a  hundred  silver  teaspoons  in  keeping  back  the  waters, 
and  this  Free  Soil  p-arty  could  do  more  to  check  its 
advance  than  a  hundred  of  the  little  Liberty  Party 
with  that  pure  patriot,  Gerrit  Smith,  at  its  head.  In 
doing  right,  take  all  the  help  you  can  get,  even  from 
Satan.  Let  him  assist  to  carry  your  burden  as  long 
as  he  will  travel  your  road,  and  only  be  careful  not  to 
turn  off  with  him  when  he  takes  his  own. 

The  Visiter  had  thousands  of  readers  scattered  over 
every  State  and  Territory  in  the  nation,  in  England 
and  the  Canadas.  It  was  quoted  more  perhaps  than 
any  other  paper  in  the  country,  and  whether  for  blame 
or  praise,  its  sentiments  were  circulated,  and  men  of 
good  judgment  thought  it  made  thousands  of  votes 
for  the  Free  Soil  party. 


124:  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTEE    XXYL 

VISIT   WASHTNGTON,-AGE,35. 

WHEN  slavery  thought  to  reap  the  fruits  of  the  war 
into  which  she  had  plunged  the  nation  with  Mexico, 
lo!  ciiere  was  a  lion  in  her  path,  and  not  a  Bunyan 
lion  either,  for  this  kingly  beast  wore  no  collar,  no 
chain  held  him.  The  roused  North  had  laid  her  great 
labor  paw  on  the  California  gold  fields  and  stood 
showing  her  teeth  while  the  serpent  with  raised  crest 
was  coiled  to  strike,  and  the  world  waited  and  won 
dered. 

Henry  Clay,  the  synonym  for  compromise,  was  still 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  and,with  his  cat-like  tread, 
stepped  in  between  the  belligerents  with  a  cunning  de 
vice — a  device  similar  to  that  by  which  the  boys  dis 
posed  of  the  knife  they  found  jointly — one  was  to  own, 
the  other  to  carry  and  use  it.  So  by  this  plan  the  lion 
was  to  own  California,  and  the  snake  was  to  occupy  it 
as  a  hunting-ground ;  nay,  not  it  alone,  but  every  State 
and  Territory  in  the  Union  must  be  given  up  to  its 
slimy  purposes.  In  other  words,  California  was  to  be 
admitted  as  a  free  State,  upon  condition  of  the  passage 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  which  authorized  the  slave- 
hunter  to  follow  the  fugitive  into  every  home,  every  spot 
of  this  broad  land;  to  tear  him  from  any  altar,  and 
demand  the  services  of  every  "  good  citizen  "  in  his 
hellish  work.  Men  by  thousands,  once  counted  friends 
of  freedom,  bowed  abjectly  to  this  infamous  decision. 

Daniel  "Webster,  the  leading  Whig  statesman,  made 


VISIT  WASHINGTON.  125 

a  set  speech  in  favor  of  thus  giving  up  the  whole 
country  to  the  dominion  of  the  slave  power.  It  was 
another  great  bid  for  the  next  presidential  nomination, 
which  must  be  controlled  by  the  South.  The  danger 
was  imminent,  the  crisis  alarming,  and  the  excitement 
very  great.  I  longed  to  be  in  Washington,  so  I  wrote 
to  Horace  Greeley,  who  answered  that  he  would  pay 
me  five  dollars  a  column  for  letters.  It  was  said  that 
this  was  the  first  time  a  woman  had  been  engaged  in 
that  capacity. 

I  went  to  Washington  in  the  early  part  of  '50,  go 
ing  by  canal  to  the  western  foot  of  the  Alleghenies, 
and  then  by  rail  to  the  foot  of  the  inclined  plane,  where 
our  cars  were  wound  up  and  let  down  by  huge  wind 
lasses.  I  was  in  a  whifl  of  wonder  and  excitement  by 
this,  my  first  acquaintance  with  the  iron-horse,  but 
had  to  stay  all  night  in  Baltimore  because  the  daily 
train  for  Washington  had  left  before  ours  came. 

I  had  letters  to  the  proprietor  of  the  Irving  House, 
where  I  took  board.  Had  others  to  Col.  Benton,  Hen 
ry  Clay,  and  other  great  men,  but  he  who  most  inte 
rested  me  was  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bailey,  editor  of  the  Na 
tional  Era.  The  great  want  of  an  an ti -slavery  paper 
at  the  capitol  had  been  supplied  by  five-dollar  sub 
scriptions  to  a  publication  fund,  and  Dr.  Bailey  called 
from  Cincinnati  to  take  charge  of  it,  and  few  men 
have  kept  a  charge  with  more  care  and  skill.  He 
and  the  Era  had  just  passed  the  ordeal  of  a  fright 
ful  mob,  in  which  he  was  conciliatory,  unyielding  and 
victorious;  and  he  was  just  then  gravely  anxious  about 
the  great  orisis,  but  most  of  all  anxious  that  the  Era 
should  do  yoeman  service  to  the  cause  which  had 
called  it  into  life. 


126  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

The  Era  had  a  large  circulation,  and  high  literary 
standing,  but  Dr.  Bailey  was  troubled  about  the  diffi 
culty  or  impossibility  of  procuring  anti-slavery  tales. 
Mrs.  Southworth  was  writing  serials  for  it,  and  lie 
had  hoped  that  she,  a  Southern  woman  with  Northern 
principles,  could  weave  into  her  stories  pictures  of 
slavery  which  would  call  damaging  attention  to  it,  but 
in  this  she  had  failed. 

Anti-slavery  tales,  anti-slavery  tales,  was  what  the 
good  Doctor  wanted.  Temperance  had  its  story  wri 
ter  in  Arthur.  If  only  abolition  had  a  good  writer  of 
fiction,  one  who  could  interest  and  educate  the  young. 
He  knew  of  but  one  pen  able  to  write  what  he  wanted, 
and  alas,  the  finances  of  the  Era  could  not  command 
it.  If  only  he  could  engage  Mrs.  Stowe.  I  had  not 
heard  of  her,  and  he  explained  that  she  was  a  daugh 
ter  of  Lyman  Beecher.  I  was  surprised  and  ex 
claimed  : 

"  A  daughter  of  Lyman  Beecher  write  abolition  sto 
ries!  Saul  among  the  prophets!  " 

I  reminded  the  Doctor  that  President  Beecher  and 
Prof.  Stowe  had  broken  up  the  theological  department 
of  Lane  Seminary  by  suppressing  the  anti-slavery  agi 
tation  raised  by  Theodore  "Weld,  a  Kentucky  student, 
and  threw  their  influence  against  disturbing  the  Con 
gregational  churches  with  the  new  fanaticism;  that 
Edward  Beecher  invented  the  "organic  sin,"  devil, 
behind  which  churches  and  individuals  took  refuge 
when  called  upon  to  "  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 
against  the  mighty."  But  Dr.  Bailey  said  he  knew 
them  personally,  and  that  despite  their  public  record ? 
they  were  at  heart  anti-slavery,  and  that  prudence 


VISIT  "WASHINGTON.  127 

alone  dictated  their  course.  Mrs.  Stowe  was  a  graph 
ic  story-teller,  had  been  in  Kentucky,  taken  in  the 
situation  and  could  describe  the  peculiar  institution 
as  no  one  else  could.  If  he  could  only  enlist  her,  the 
whole  family  would  most  likely  follow  into  the  abo 
lition  ranks;  but  the  bounty  money,  alas,  where  could 
he  raise  it? 

Where  there  is  the  will  there  is  a  way,  and  it  was 
but  a  few  months  after  that  conversation  when  Dr. 
Bailey  forwarded  one  hundred  dollars  to  Mrs.  Stowe 
as  a  retaining  fee  for  her  services  in  the  cause  of  the 
slave,  and  lo!  the  result,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  As 
it  progressed  he  sent  her  another,  and  then  another 
hundred  dollars.  "Was  ever  money  so  well  expended  ? 

That  grand  old  lion,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  had  also 
passed  through  the  mob,  and  as  I  went  with  him  to 
be  presented  to  President  Taylor,  a  woman  in  the 
crowd  stepped  back,  drew  away  her  skirts,  and  with  a 
snarl  exclaimed, 

"  A  pair  of  abolitionists! " 

The  whole  air  of  Freedom's  capital  thrilled  and  pal 
pitated  with  hatred  of  her  and  her  cause.  On  the 
question  of  the  pending  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  the  feel 
ing  was  intense  and  bitterly  partisan,  although  not  a 
party  measure.  Mr.  Taylor,  the  Whiof  President,  had 
pronounced  the  bill  an  insult  to  the  JSrorth,  and  stated 
his  determination  to  veto  it.  Fillinore,  the  Yice-Pres- 
ident,  was  in  favor  of  it.  So,  Freedom  looked  to  a 
man  owning  three  hundred  slaves,  while  slavery  re 
lied  on  "  a  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles." 
President  Taylor  was  hated  by  the  South,  was  de 
nounced  as  a  traitor  to  his  section,  while  Southern 


128  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

men  and  women  fawned  upon  and  nattered  Fillmore. 
Webster,  the  great  "Whig  statesman  of  the  North,  had 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  while  Col.  Benton,  of  Mis 
souri,  was  on  the  side  of  Freedom. 

The  third,  or  anti-slavery  party,  represented  by 
Chase  and  Hale  in  the  Senate,  was  beginning  to  make 
itself  felt,  and  must  be  crushed  and  stamped  out  at  all 
hazards — the  infant  must  be  strangled  in  its  cradle. 

While  abolition  was  scoffed  at  by  hypocritical  priests 
as  opening  a  door  to  amalgamation,  here,  in  the  nation's 
capital,  lived  some  of  our  most  prominent  statesmen 
in  open  concubinage  with  negresses,  adding  to  their 
income  by  the  sale  of  their  own  children,  while  one 
could  neither  go  out  nor  stay  in  without  meeting  indis 
putable  testimony  of  the  truth  of  Thomas  Jefferson's 
statement:  "The  best  blood  of  Virginia  runs  in  the 
veins  of  her  slaves."  But  the  case  which  interested 
me  most  was  a  family  of  eight  rnulattoes,  bearing  the 
image  and  superscription  of  the  great  New  England 
statesman,  who  paid  the  rent  and  grocery  bills  of  their 
mother  as  regularly  as  he  did  those  of  his  wife. 

Pigs  were  the  scavengers,  mud  and  garbage  the  rule, 
while  men  literally  wallowed  in  the  mire  of  licentious 
ness  and  strong  drink.  In  Congress  they  sat  and 
loafed  with  the  soles  of  their  boots  turned  up  for  the 
inspection  of  the  ladies  in  the  galleries.  Their  Llan- 
guage  and  gestures  as  they  expectorated  hither  and 
thither  were  often  as  coarse  as  their  positions,  while 
they  ranted  about  the  "  laws  and  Constitution,"  and 
cracked  their  slave-whips  over  the  heads  of  the  dough 
faces  sent  from  the  Northern  States. 

Washington  was  a  great  slave  mart,  and  her  slave- 


VISIT  WASHINGTON.  129 

pen  was  one  of  the  most  infamous  in  the  whole  land. 
One  woman,  who  had  escaped  from  it,  was  pursued  in 
her  flight  across  the  long  bridge,  and  was  gaining  on 
the  four  men  who  followed  her,  when  they  shouted  to 
some  on  the  Yirginia  shore,  who  ran  and  inter 
cepted  her.  Seeing  her  way  blocked,  and  all  hope  of 
escape  gone,  with  one  wild  cry  she  clasped  her  hands 
above  her  head,  sprang  into  the  Potomac,  and  was 
swept  into  that  land  beyond  the  Kiver  Death,  where 
alone  was  hope  for  the  American  slave.  Another  wo 
man  with  her  two  children  was  captured  on  the  steps 
of  the  capitol  building,  whither  she  had  fled  for  pro 
tection,  and  this,  too,  while  the  stars  and  stripes  float 
ed  over  it. 

One  of  President  Tyler's  daughters  ran  away  with 
the  man  she  loved,  in  order  that  they  might  be  mar 
ried,  but  for  this  they  must  reach  foreign  soil.  A 
young  lady  of  the  White  House  could  not  marry  the 
man  of  her  choice  in  the  United  States.  The  lovers 
were  captured,  and  she  was  brought  to  His  Excellency, 
her  father,  who  sold  her  to  a  slave-trader.  From  that 
Washington  slave-pen  she  was  taken  to  New  Orleans 
by  a  man  who  expected  to  get  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars  for  her  on  account  of  her  great  beauty. 

My  letters  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  soon  attracted 
so  much  attention  that  is  was  unpleasant  for  me  to 
live  in  a  hotel,  and  I  became  the  guest  of  my  friend 
Mrs.  Emma  D.  E.  N.  South  worth.  It  was  pleasant  to 
look  into  her  great,  dreamy  grey  eyes,  with  their  heavy 
lashes,  at  the  broad  forehead  and  the  clustering  brown 
curls,  and  have  her  sit  and  look  into  the  fire  and  talk 

9 


130  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

as  she  wrote  of  the  strange  fancies  which  peopled  her 
busy  brain. 

Among  the  legislative  absurdities  which  early  at 
tracted  my  attention  was  that  of  bringing  every  claim 
against  the  government  before  Congress.  If  a  man 
thought  government  owed  him  ten  dollars,  the  only 
way  was  to  have  the  bill  pass  both  houses.  In  my 
Tribune  letters,  I  ventilated  that  thoroughly,  and  sug 
gested  a  court,  in  which  Brother  Jonathan  could  ap 
pear  by  attorney.  Mr.  Greeley  seconded  the  sugges 
tion  warmly,  and  this,  I  think,  was  the  origin  of  the 
Court  of  Claims. 

There  was  yet  one  innovation  I  wanted  to  make,  al 
though  my  stay  in  Washington  would  necessarily  be 
short.  JSTo  woman  had  ever  had  a  place  in  the  Congres 
sional  reporter's  gallery.  This  door  I  wanted  to  open 
to  them,  called  on  Yice-President  Fillmore  and  asked 
him  to  assign  me  a  seat  in  the  Senate  gallery.  He  was 
much  surprised  and  tried  to  dissuade  me.  The  place 
would  be  very  unpleasant  for  a  lady,  would  attract  at 
tention,  I  would  not  like  it;  but  he  gave  me  the  seat. 
I  occupied  it  one  day,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  the 
Senators,  the  reporters,  and  others  on  the  floor  and  in 
the  galleries;  but  felt  that  the  novelty  would  soon  wear 
off,  and  that  women  would  work  there  and  win  bread 
without  annoyance. 

But  the  Senate  had  another  sensation  that  day,  for 
Foot,  in  a  speech  alluded  to  "  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri."  Ben  ton  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  started  to 
ward  him,  but  a  dozen  members  rushed  up  to  hold 
him,  and  he  roared : 

"  Stand  off,  gentlemen!  Unhand  me!  Let  me  reach 
the  scoundrel!" 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  131 

Everyone  stamped,  and  ran,  and  shouted  "Order!" 
The  speaker  pounded  with  his  mallet,  and  Foot  ran 
down  the  aisle  to  the  chair,  drawing  out  a  great  horse- 
pistol  and  cocking  it,  cried: 

"  Let  him  come  on,  gentlemen!  let  him  come  on!]" 
while  he  increased  the  distance  between  them  as  fast 
as  time  and  ?pace  would  permit.  After  the  hubbub 
had  subsided,  Foot  explained: 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  saw  the  gentleman  coming,  and  I 
advanced  toward  the  chair." 

I  have  never  seen  a  well-whipped  rooster  run  from 
his  foe,  without  thinking  of  Foot's  advance. 

CHAPTER  XXVIL 

DANIEL   WEBSTER. 

DARKEST  of  the  dark  omens  for  the  slave,  in  that 
dark  day,  was  the  defalcation  of  Daniel  Webster.    He 
whose  eloquence  had  secured  in  name  the  great  North 
west  to  freedom,  and  who  had  so  long  been  dreaded 
7  .  o 

by  the  slave-power,  had  laid  his  crown  in  the  dust;  had 
counseled  the  people  of  the  North  to  conquer  their 
prejudices  against  catching  slaves,  and  by  his  vote 
would  open  every  sanctuary  to  the  bloodhound.  The 
prestige  of  his  great  name  and  the  power  of  his  great 
intellect  were  turned  over  to  slavery,  and  the  friends 
of  freedom,  deplored  and  trembled  for  the  result. 

There  was  some  general  knowledge  through  the  coun 
try  of  the  immorality  of  Southern  men  in  our  national 
capital.  Serious  charges  had  been  made  by  abolition 
ists  against  Henry  Clay,  but  Webster  was  supposed  to 
be  a  moral  as  well  as  an  intellectual  giant.  Brought 


132  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

up  in  Puritan  New  England,  lie  was  accredited  with 
all  the  New  England  virtues;  and  when  a  Southern 
woman  said  to  me,  in  answer  to  my  strictures  on 
Southern  men: 

"Oh,  you  need  not  say  anything!  Look  at  your 
own  Daniel  "Webster!"  I  wondered  and  began  to  look 
at  and  inquire  about  him,  arid  soon  discovered  that  his 
whole  panoply  of  moral  power  was  a  shell — that  his 
life  was  full  of  rottenness.  Then  I  knew  why  I  had 
come  to  Washington.  I  gathered  the  principal  facts 
of  his  life  at  the  Capitol,  stated  them  to  Dr.  Snod- 
grass,  a  prominent  Washington  correspondent,  whose 
anti-slavery  paper  had  been  suppressed  in  Baltimore 
by  a  mob,  to  Joshua  K.  Giddings  and  Gamaliel  Bailey. 
They  assured  me  of  the  truth  of  what  had  been  told 
me,  but  advised  me  to  keep  quiet,  as  other  people  had 
done.  I  took  the  whole  question  into  careful  consid 
eration  ;  wrote  a  paragraph  in  a  letter  to  the  Visiter, 
stating  the  facts  briefly,  strongly;  and  went  to  read  it 
to  my  friend,  Mrs.  George  W.  Julian. 

I  found  her  and  her  husband  together,  and  read  the 
letter  to  them.  They  sat  dumb  for  a  moment,  then  he 
exclaimed : 

"  You  must  not  publish  that! " 

"Is  it  true?" 

"  Oh,  yes!  It  is  true!  But  none  the  less  you  must 
not  publish  it!" 

"Can  I  prove  it?" 

"  No  one  will  dare  deny  it.  We  have  all  known 
that  for  years,  but  no  one  would  dare  to  make  it  pub 
lic.  No  good  can  come  of  its  publication ;  it  would 
ruin  you,  ruin  your  influence,  ruin  your  work.  You 


DANIEL  WEBSTEK.  133 

would  lose  your  Tribune  engagement,  by  which  yon 
are  now  doing  so  much  good.  We  all  feel  the  help 
you  are  to  the  good  cause.  Do  not  throw  away  your 
influence!" 

"  Does  not  the  cause  of  the  slave  hang  on  the  issue 
in  Congress? " 

"  I  think  it  does." 

"  Is  not  Mr.  Webster's  influence  all  against  it?" 

"  Yes,  of  course!" 

"  Would  not  that  influence  be  very  much  less  if  the 
public  knew  just  what  he  is?  " 

"  Of  course  it  would,  but  you  cannot  afford  to  tell 
them.  You  have  no  idea  what  his  friends  would  say, 
what  they  would  do.  They  would  ruin  you." 

I  thought  a  moment,  and  said: 

"  I  will  publish  it,  and  let  God  take  care  of  the  con 
sequences." 

"  Good! "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Julian,  clapping  her  hands. 
"  I  would  if  I  were  in  your  place." 

But  when  I  went  to  post  the  letter,  I  hesitated, 
walked  back  and  forth  on  the  street,  and  almost  con 
cluded  to  leave  out  that  paragraph.  I  shuddered  lest 
Mr.  Julian's  prediction  should  prove  true.  I  was 
gratified  by  my  position  on  the  Tribune — the  social 
distinction  it  gave  me  and  courtesy  which  had  been 
shown  me.  Grave  Senators  went  out  of  their  way  to 
be  polite,  and  even  pro-slavery  men  treated  me  with 
distinguished  consideration.  My  Washington  life  had 
been  eminently  agreeable,  and  I  dreaded  changing 
popularity  for  public  denunciation.  But  I  remem 
bered  my  Bed  Sea,  and  my  motto — "  Speak  unto  the 
children  of  Israel  that  they  go  forward."  The  duty 


134:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

of  destroying  that  pro-slavery  influence  was  plain. 
All  the  objections  were  for  fear  01  the  consequences 
to  me.  I  had  said  God  should  take  care  of  these,  and 
mailed  the  letter,  but  I  must  leave  Washington.  Mr. 
Greeley  should  not  discharge  me.  I  left  the  capitol 
the  day  after  taking  my  seat  in  the  reporter's  gallery, 
feeling  that  that  door  was  open  to  other  women. 

The  surprise  with  which  the  "Webster  statement 
was  received  was  fully  equalled  by  the  storm  of  denun 
ciation  it  drew  down  upon  me.  The  New  York  Tri- 
lune  regretted  and  condemned.  Other  secular  papers 
made  dignified  protests.  The  religious  press  was 
shocked  at  my  indelicacy,  and  fellows  of  the  baser 
sort  improved  their  opportunity  to  the  utmost.  I 
have  never  seen,  in  the  history  of  the  press,  such  wide 
spread  abuse  of  any  one  person  as  that  with  which  I 
was  favored ;  but,  by  a  strange  fatality,  the  paragraph 
was  copied  and  copied.  It  was  so  short  and  pointed 
that  in  no  other  way  could  its  wickedness  be  so  well 
depicted  as  by  making  it  a  witness  against  itself. 

I  had  nothing  to  do  but  keep  quiet.  The  accusation 
was  made.  I  knew  where  to  find  the  proof  if  it  should 
be  legally  called  for,  aiid  until  it  was  I  should  volun 
teer  no  evidence,  and  my  witnesses  could  not  be  at 
tacked  or  discredited  in  advance.  By  and  by  peo 
ple  began  to  ask  for  the  contradiction  of  this  "  vile 
slander."  It  was  so  circumstantial  as  to  call  for  a  de 
nial.  It  could  not  be  set  aside  as  unworthy  of  atten 
tion. 

What  did  it  mean  ?  Mr.  Webster  was  a  prominent 
candidate  for  President.  Would  his  friends  permit 
this  story  to  pass  without  a  word  of  denial?  Mr. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  135 

Julian  was  right;  no  one  would  dare  deny  the  charge. 
He  was,  however,  wrong  in  saying  it  would  ruin  me. 
My  motive  was  too  apparent,  and  the  revelations  too 
important,  for  any  lasting  disgrace  to  attach  to  it.  On 
all  hands  it  was  assured  that  the  disclosure  had  had  a 
telling  effect  in  disposing  of  a  formidable  power  which 
had  been  arrayed  against  the  slave,  as  Mr.  Webster 
failed  to  secure  the  nomination. 

Some  one  started  a  conundrum:  "  Why  is  Daniel 
Webster  like  Sisera?  Because  he  was  killed  by  a 
woman,"  and  this  had  almost  as  great  a  run  as  the 
original  accusation. 

When  the  National  Convention  met  in  Pittsburg, 
in  1852,  to  form  the  Free  Democratic  party,  there  was 
an  executive  and  popular  branch  held  in  separate  halls. 
I  attended  the  executive.  Yery  few  women  were 
present,  and  I  the  only  one  near  the  platform.  The 
temporary  chairman  left  the  chair,  came  to  me  to  be 
introduced,  saying  : 

"  I  want  to  take  the  hand  that  killed  Daniel  Web 
ster." 

Henry  Wilson  was  permanent  chairman  of  that 
convention,  and  he  came,  too,  with  similar  address. 
Even  Mr.  Greeley  continued  to  be  my  friend,  and  I 
wrote  for  the  Tribune  often  after  that  time. 


136  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

CHAPTEE    XXVIII. 

FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW. 

WHEN  it  became  certain  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill 
could  pass  Congress,  but  could  not  command  a  two- 
thirds  vote  to  carry  it  over  the  assured  veto  of  Presi 
dent  Taylor,  he  ate  a  plate  of  strawberries,  just  as 
President  Harrison  had  done  when  he  stood  in  the 
way  of  Southern  policy,  and  like  his  great  predecessor 
Taylor,  died  opportunely,  when  Mr.  Fillmore  became 
President,  and  signed  the  bill.  When  it  was  the  law 
of  the  land,  there  was  a  rush  of  popular  sentiment  in 
favor  of  obedience,  and  a  rush  of  slave-catchers  to  take 
advantage  of  its  provisions.  Thousands  of  slaves  were 
returned  to  bondage.  Whigs  and  Democrats  were 
still  bidding  for  the  Southern  vote,  and  now  vied  with 
each  other  as  to  who  should  show  most  willingness  to 
aid  their  Southern  brethren  in  the  recovery  of  their 
lost  property.  The  church  also  rushed  to  the  front  to 
show  its  Christian  zeal  for  the  wrongs  of  those  breth 
ren  who,  by  the  escape  of  their  slaves,  lost  the  means 
of  building  churches  and  buying  communion  services, 
and  there  was  no  end  of  homilies  on  the  dishonesty  of 
helping  men  to  regain  possession  of  their  own  bodies. 
All  manner  of  charges  were  rung  about  Onesimus, 
and  Paul  became  the  patron  saint  of  slave-catchers. 

Among  the  many  devices  brought  to  bear  on  the 
consciences  of  Pittsburgers,"was  a  sermon  preached,  as 
per  announcement,  by  Rev.  Kiddle,  pastor  of  the  Third 
Presbyterian  church.  It  was  received  with  great  favor, 
by  his  large  wealthy  congregation,  was  printed  in 


FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW.  137 

pamphlet  form,  distributed  by  thousands  and  made  a 
profound  impression,  for  Pittsburg  is  a  Presbyterian 
city,  and  a  sermon  by  its  leading  pastor  was  convinc 
ing.  The  sermon  was  an  out  and  out  plea  for  the  bill 
and  obedience  to  its  requirements.  Did  not  Paul 
return  Onesimus  to  his  master?  Were  not  servants 
told  to  obey  their  masters?  Running  away  was  gross 
disobedience,  etc.,  etc. 

Robt.  M.  Riddle,  in  a  careful  leader  in  The  Journal^ 
deprecated  the  existence  of  the  law;  but  since  it  did 
exist,  counseled  obedience.  He  was  a  polished  and 
forcible  writer  and  his  arguments  had  great  weight. 

The  Visiter  published  an  article  on  "  The  Two  Rid 
dles,"  in  which  was  drawn  a  picture  of  a  scantily 
clad  woman,  with  bruised  and  bleeding  feet,  clasping 
an  infant  to  her  bosom,  panting  before  her  pursuers 
up  Third  street.  The  master  called  on  all  good  citi 
zens  for  help.  The  cry  reached  the  ears  of  the  tall 
editor  of  the  Journal  seated  at  his  desk.  He  drop 
ped  his  pen,  hastily  donned  his  new  brass  collar  and 
started  in  hot  pursuit  of  this  wicked  woman,  who  was 
feloniously  appropriating  the  property  of  her  master. 

The  other  Riddle — the  Presbyterian  pastor — planted 
himself  by  the  lamp  post  on  the  corner  of  Third  and 
Market  streets,  and  with  spectacles  on  nose  and  raised 
hands,  loudly  implored  divine  blessing  on  the  labors 
of  his  tall  namesake.  The  Visiter  concluded  by  advis 
ing  masters  ^ho  had  slaves  to  catch,  to  apply  to  these 
gentlemen,  who  would  attend  to  business  from  purely 
pious  and  patriotic  motives. 

I  did  not  see  Mr.  Riddle  for  two  weeks  after  the 
publication  of  the  sketch,  and  then  we  met  on  the 


138  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

street.     He  had  never  before  been  angry  or  vexed  with 
me,  but  now  he  was  both,  and  said: 

"How  could  you  do  me  such  an  injustice?" 

"  "Why  is  it  an  injustice? " 

"Oh  you  know  it  is!  You  know  I  would  cut  off 
my  right  hand,  before  I  would  aid  in  capturing  a  fugi 
tive." 

"Then  why  do  you  counsel  others  to  do  it?" 

u  Oh  you  know  better!  and  Eev.  Eiddle,  he  and  his 
friends  are  distressed  about  it.  You  do  not  know 
what  you  have  done!  I  have  already  had  three  letters 
from  the  South,  asking  me  to  aid  in  returning  fugi 
tives,  and  he,  too,  has  had  similar  applications.  Oh 
it  is  too  humiliating,  too  bad.  You  must  set  it  right!" 

I  agreed  to  do  so,  and  the  Visiter  explained  that  it 
had  been  mistaken  in  saying  that  both  or  either  oi 
the  two  Kiddles  would  aid  in  returning  fugitives. 
They  both  scorned  the  business,  and  Kobt.  M.,  would 
cut  off  his  right  hand,  rather  than  engage  in  it.  He 
only  meant  that  other  people  should  do  what  would 
degrade  him.  He  was  not  a  good  citizen,  and  did  not 
intend  to  be.  As  for  his  Reverence,  he  would  shirk 
his  Christian  duties;  would  not  pray  by  that  lamp 
post,  or  any  other  lamp-post,  for  the  success  of  slave- 
catchers.  He  had  turned  his  back  upon  Paul,  and 
had  fallen  from  grace  since  preaching  his  famous  ser 
mon.  The  gentlemen  had  been  accredited  with  a 
patriotism  and  piety  of  which  they  were  incapable, 
and  a  retraction  was  necessary ;  but  if  any  other  more 
patriotic  politician  or  divine,  further  advanced  in 
sanctification  would  send  their  names  to  the  Visiter,  it 
would  notify  the  South. 


BLOOMEKS.  139 

In  answering  Bible  arguments,  as  to  the  righteous 
ness  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  the  main  dependence 
of  the  Visiter  was  Deuteronomy  xxiii:  15  and  16: 

"Thou  shalt  not  deliver  unto  his  master,  the  servant 
which  is  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thee. 

"  He  shall  dwell  with  thee,  even  among  you,  in  that 
place  where  he  shall  choose,  in  one  of  thy  gates,  where 
it  liketh  him  best,  thou  shalt  not  oppress  him." 

That  old  Bible,  in  spite  of  pro-slavery  interpreters, 
proved  to  be  the  great  bulwark  of  human  liberty. 

In  1852,  Slavery  and  Democracy  formed  that  alli 
ance  to  which  we  owe  the  Great  Kebellion.  The  South 
became  solid,  and  Whigs  had  no  longer  any  motive 
for  catching  slaves. 

CHAPTEK  XXIX. 

BLOOMERS  AND  WOMAN'S  EIGHTS  CONVENTIONS. 

THE  appearance  of  The  Visiter  was  the  signal  for 
an  outbreak,  for  which  I  was  wholly  unprepared,  and 
one  which  proved  the  existence  of  an  eating  cancer  of 
discontent  in  the  body  politic.  Under  the  smooth 
surface  of  society  lay  a  mass  of  moral  disease,  which 
suddenly  broke  out  into  an  eruption  of  complaints, 
from  those  who  felt  themselves  oppressed  by  the  old 
Saxon  and  ecclesiastical  laws  under  which  one-half  the 
people  of  the  republic  still  lived. 

In  the  laws  governing  the  interests  peculiar  to  men, 
and  those  affecting  their  interests  in  common  with 
woman,  great  advance  had  been  made  during  the  past. 
six  centuries,  but  those  regarding  the  exclusive  inter- 


140  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ests  of  women,  had  remained  in  statu  quo,  since  King 
Alfred  the  Great  and  the  knights  of  his  Round  Table 
fell  asleep.  The  anti-negro  slavery  object  of  my  paper 
seemed  to  be  lost  sight  of,  both  by  friends  and  foes  of 
human  progress,  in  the  surprise  at  the  innovation  of  a 
woman  entering  the  political  arena,  to  argue  publicly 
on  great  questions  of  national  policy,  and  while  men 
were  defending  their  pantaloons,  they  created  and 
spread  the  idea,  that  masculine  supremacy  lay  in  the 
form  of  their  garments,  and  that  a  woman  dressed  like 
a  man  would  be  as  potent  as  he. 

Strange  as  it  may  now  seem,  they  succeeded  in  giv 
ing  such  efficacy  to  the  idea,  that  no  less  a  person  than 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cad}T  Stan  ton  was  led  astray  by  it,  so 
that  she  set  her  cool,  wise  head  to  work  and  invented  a 
costume,  which  she  believed  would  emancipate  woman 
from  thraldom.  Her  invention  was  adopted  by  her 
friend  Mrs.  Bloomer,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Lily,  a  small  paper  then  in  infancy  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
and  from  her,  the  dress  took  its  name — "  the  bloomer." 
Both  women  believed  in  their  dress,  and  staunchly 
advocated  it  as  the  sovereignest  remedy  for  all  the  ills 
that  woman's  flesh  is  heir  to. 

I  made  a  suit  and  wore  it  at  home  parts  of  two  days, 
long  enough  to  feel  assured  that  it  must  be  a  failure; 
and  so  opposed  it  earnestly,  but  nothing  I  could  say  or 
do  could  make  it  apparent  that  pantaloons  were  not  the 
real  objective  point,  at  which  all  discontented  woman 
aimed.  I  had  once  been  tried  on  a  charge  of  purloin 
ing  pantaloons,  and  been  acquitted  for  lack  of  evidence; 
but  now,  here  was  the  proof!  The  women  themselves, 
leaders  of  the  malcontents,  promulgated  and  pressed 


BLOOMEKS.  141 

their  claim  to  bifurcated  garments,  and  the  whole  tide 
of  popular  discussion  was  turned  into  that  ridiculous 
channel. 

The  Visiter  had  a  large  list  of  subscribers  in  Salem, 
Ohio,  and  in  the  summer  of  '49  a  letter  from  a  lady 
came  to  me  saying,  that  the  Visiter  had  stirred  up  so 
much  interest  in  women's  rights  that  a  meeting  had 
been  held  and  a  committee  appointed  to  get  up  a  wom 
an's  rights  convention,  and  she,  as  chairman  of  that 
committee,  invited  me  to  preside.  I  felt  on  reading 
this  as  if  I  had  had  a  douche  bath ;  then,  as  a  lawyer 
might  have  felt  who  had  carried  a  case  for  a  corpora 
tion  through  the  lower  court,  and  when  expecting  it 
up  before  the  supreme  bench,  had  learned  that  all  his 
clients  were  coming  in  to  address  the  court  on  the  mer 
its  of  the  case. 

By  the  pecks  of  letters  I  had  been  receiving,  I  had 
learned  that  there  were  thousands  of  women  with 
grievances,  and  no  power  to  state  them  or  to  discrimi 
nate  between  those  which  could  be  reached  by  law  and 
those  purely  personal;  and  that  the  love  of  privacy 
with  which  the  whole  sex  was  accredited  was  a  mis 
take,  since  most  of  my  correspondents  literally  ago 
nized  to  get  before  the  public.  Publicity!  publicity! 
was  the  persistent  demand.  To  meet  the  demand, 
small  papers,  owned  and  edited  by  women,  sprang  up 
all  over  the  land,  and  like  Jonah's  gourd,  perished  in 
a  night.  Ruskin  says  to  be  noble  is  to  be  known,  and 
at  that  period  there  was  a  great  demand  on  the  part 
of  women  for  their  full  allowance  of  nobility;  but 
not  one  in  a  hundred  thought  of  merit  as  a  means  of 
reaching  it.  No  use  waiting  to  learn  to  put  two  con- 


142  HALF  A  CENTUET. 

secutive  sentences  together  in  any  connected  form,  or 
for  an  idea  or  the  power  of  expressing  it.  One  woman 
was  printing  her  productions,  and  why  should  not  all 
the  rest  do  likewise?  They  had  so  long  followed  some 
leader  like  a  flock  of  sheep,  that  now  they  would  rush 
through  the  first  gap  into  newspaperdom. 

I  declined  the  presidential  honors  tendered  me,  on 
the  ground  of  inability  to  fill  the  place;  and  earnestly 
entreated  the  movers  to  reconsider  and  give  up  the 
convention,  saying: 

"  It  will  open  a  door  through  which  fools  and  fanat 
ics  will  pour  in,  and  make  the  cause  ridiculous." 

The  answer  was  that  it  was  too  late  to  recede.  The 
convention  was  held,  and  justified  my  worst  fears. 
When  I  criticised  it,  the  reply  was: 

"  If  you  had  come  and  presided,  as  we  wished  you 
to  do,  the  result  would  have  been  different.  You 
started  the  movement  and  now  refuse  to  lead  it,  but 
cannot  stop  it." 

The  next  summer  a  convention  was  held  in  Akron, 
Ohio,  and  I  attended,  hoping  to  modify  the  madness, 
but  failed  utterly,  by  all  protests  I  could  make,  to  pre 
vent  the  introduction  by  the  committee  on  resolutions 
of  this: 

"  Resolved,  that  the  difference  in  sex  is  one  of  edu 
cation." 

A  man  stood  behind  the  president  to  prompt  her, 
but  she  could  not  catch  his  meaning,  and  when  confu 
sion  came,  she  rose  and  made  a  little  speech,  in  which 
she  stated  that  she  knew  nothing  of  parliamentary 
rules,  and  when  consenting  to  preside  had  resolved,  if 
there  were  trouble,  to  say  to  the  convention  as  she  did 
to  her  boys  at  home: 


WOMAN'S  EIGHTS  CONVENTIONS.  143 

"Quit  behaving  yourselves!-' 

Tins  brought  down  the  house,  but  brought  no  order, 
and  she  sat  down,  smiling,  a  perfect  picture  of  self- 
complaisance. 

People  thought  the  press  unmerciful  in  its  ridicule 
of  that  convention,  but  I  felt  in  it  all  there  was  much 
forbearance.  No  words  could  have  done  justice  to  the 
occasion.  It  was  so  much  more  ridiculous  than  ridi 
cule,  so  much  more  absurd  than  absurdity.  The  wo 
men  on  whom  that  ridicule  was  heaped  were  utterly 
incapable  of  self-defense,  or  unconscious  of  its  need. 
The  mass  of  nobility  seekers  seemed  content  to  get 
before  the  public  by  any  means,  and  to  wear  its  most- 
stinging  sarcasms  as  they  would  a  new  dress  cap. 

In  those  days  I  reserved  all  my  hard  words  for  men, 
and  in  ray  notice  of  the  convention  mildly  suggested 
that  it  would  have  been  better  had  Mrs.  Oliver  John 
son  been  made  president,  as  she  had  great  executive 
ability  and  a  good  knowledge  of  parliamentary  rules. 
This  suggestion  was  received  by  the  president  as  an 
insult  never  to  be  forgiven,  and  in  the  Visit er  defend 
ed  herself  against  it.  I  replied,  and  in  the  discussion 
which  followed  she  argued  that  the  affairs  of  each  fam 
ily  should  be  so  arranged  that  the  husband  and  wife 
would  be  breadwinner  and  housekeeper  by  turns,  day 
or  even  half  day  about.  He  should  go  to  business  in 
the  forenoon,  then  in  the  afternoon  take  care  of  baby 
and  permit  her  to  go  to  the  office,  shop  or  warehouse 
from  which  came  the  family  supplies. 

I  took  the  ground  that  baby  would  be  apt  to  object, 
and  that  in  our  family  the  rule  would  not  work,  since 
I  could  not  put  a  log  on  the  mill-carriage,  and  the  wa- 


14:4:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

ter  would  be  running  to  waste  all  my  day  or  half-day 
as  bread-winner. 

About  the  same  time,  Mrs.  Stanton  published 
a  series  of  articles  in  Mrs.  Bloomer's  paper,  the  Lily, 
in  which  she  taught  that  it  was  right  for  a  mother  to 
make  baby  comfortable,  lay  him  in  his  crib,  come  out, 
lock  the  door,  and  leave  him  to  develop  his  lungs  by 
crying  or  cooing,  as  he  might  decide,  while  mamma 
improved  her  mind  and  attended  to  her  public  and 
social  duties. 

Against  such  head  winds,  it  was  hard  for  my  poor 
little  craft  to  make  progress  in  asserting  the  right  of 
women  to  influence  great  public  questions. 

For  something  over  twenty  years  after  that  Akron 
meeting,  I  did  not  see  a  woman's  rights  convention, 
and  in  all  have  seen  but  five.  Up  to  18T6  there  had 
been  no  material  improvement  in  them,  if  those  I  saw 
were  a  fair  specimen.  Their  holders  have  always 
seemed  to  me  like  a  woman  who  should  undertake  at 
a  state  fair  to  run  a  sewing  machine,  under  pretense 
of  advertising  it,  while  she  had  never  spent  an  hour  in 
learning  its  use. 

However,  those  conventions  have  probably  saved 
the  republic.  From  the  readiness  with  which  Penn 
sylvania  legislators  responded  to  the  petition  of  three 
of  four  women,  acting  without  concert,  in  the  matter 
of  property  rights,  it  is  probable  that  in  a  fit  of  gen 
erosity  the  men  of  the  United  States  would  have  en 
franchised  its  women  en  masse;  and  the  government 
now  staggering  under  the  ballots  of  ignorant,  irre 
sponsible  men,  must  have  gone  down  under  the  addi 
tional  burden  of  the  votes  which  would  have  been 


MANY  MATTERS.  145 

thrown  upon  it,  by  millions  of  ignorant,  irresponsible 
women.  Before  that  time,  the  unanswerable  argu 
ment  of  Judge  Hurlbut  had  been  published,  and  had 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of  thinking 
men.  Had  this  been  followed  by  the  earnest,  thrilling 
appeals  of  Susan  B.  Anthony,  free  from  all  alliance 
with  cant  and  vanity,  we  should  no  doubt  have  had  a 
voting  population  to-day,  under  which  no  government 
could  exist  ten  years;  but  those  conventions  raised 
the  danger  signal,  and  men  took  heed  to  the  warning. 

CRAPTEE    XXX. 

MANY   MATTERS. 

THE  period  of  the  Visiter  was  one  of  great  mental 
activity — a  period  of  hobbies — and  it,  having  assum 
ed  the  reform  roll,  was  expected  to  assume  all  the  re 
forms.  Turkish  trowsers,  Fourierism,  Spiritualism, 
Vegetarianism,  Phonetics,  Pneumonics,  the  Eight 
Hour  Law,  Criminal  Caudling,  Magdalenism,  and  oth 
er  devices  for  teaching  pyramids  to  stand  on  their  apex 
were  pressed  upon  the  Visiter ,  and  it  was  held  by  the 
disciples  of  each  as  "  false  to  all  its  professions,"  when 
declining  to  devote  itself  to  its  advocacy.  There  were 
a  thousand  men  and  women,  who  knew  exactly  what 
it  ought  to  do;  but  seldom  two  of  them  agreed,  and 
none  ever  thought  of  furnishing  funds  for  the  doing 
of  it.  Reformers  insisted  that  it  should  advocate  their 
plan  of  hurrying  up  the  millenium,  furnish  the  white 
paper  and  pay  the  printers.  Fond  parents  came  with 
their  young  geniuses  to  have  them  baptized  in  type 
10 


146  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

from  the  Visiter  font.  Male  editors  were  far  away 
folks,  but  the  Visiter  would  sympathize  with  family 
hopes. 

Ah,  the  crop  of  Miltone,  Shakespeares,  and  Dry- 
dens  which  was  growing  up  in  this  land,  full  forty 
years  ago.  What  has  ever  become  of  them?  Here 
conscience  gives  a  twinge,  for  that  wicked  Visiter  did 
advise  that  parents  should  treat  young  genius  as  sci 
entists  do  wood,  which  they  wish  to  convert  into  pure 
carbon,  i.  0.,  cover  it  up  with  neglect  and  discourage 
ment,  and  pat  these  down  with  wholesome  discipline, 
solid  study  and  useful  work,  and  so  let  the  fire  smoul 
der  out  of  sight. 

The  policy  of  the  Visiter  in  regard  to  Woman's 
Rights,  was  to  "  go  easy,"  except  in  the  case  of  those 
slave- women,  who  had  no  rights.  For  others,  gain  an 
advance  when  you  could.  Educate  girls  with  boys, 
develop  their  brains,  and  take  away  legal  disabilities 
little  by  little,  as  experience  should  show  was  wise; 
but  never  dream  of  their  doing  the  world's  hard  work, 
either  mental  or  physical;  and  Heaven  defend  them 
from  going  into  all  the  trades. 

The  human  teeth  proved  that  we  should  eat  flesh, 
and  the  human  form  proved  that  men  should  take  the 
ore  out  of  the  mines,  subdue  the  inertia  of  matter  and 
the  ferocity  of  animals;  that  they  should  raise  the 
grain,  build  the  houses,  roads  and  heavy  machinery; 
and  that  women  should  do  the  lighter  work.  As  this 
work  was  as  important  as  the  heavier,  and  as  it  fell 
principally  on  wives  and  mothers,  they  in  these  rela 
tions  should  receive  equal  compensation  with  the  hus 
band  and  father.  By  this  plan,  the  estate  acquired  by 


MANY  MATTERS. 

a  matrimonial  firm,  would  belong  equally  to  Loth  par 
ties,  and  each  could  devise  his  or  her  share,  so  that  a 
woman  would  know  that  her  accumulations  would  go 
to  her  heirs,  not  to  her  successor.  Consequently,  every 
wife  would  have  an  incentive  to  industry  and  econo 
my,  instead  of  being  stimulated  to  idleness  and  ex 
travagance  as  by  existing  laws. 

Women  should  not  weaken  their  cause  by  impracti 
cable  demands.  Make  no  claim  which  could  not  be 
won  in  a  reasonable  time.  Take  one  step  at  a  time, 
get  a  good  foothold  in  it  and  advance  carefully.  Suf 
frage  in  municipal  elections  for  property  holders  who 
could  read,  and  had  never  been  connected  with  crime, 
was  the  place  to  strike  for  the  ballot.  Say  nothing 
about  suffrage  elsewhere  until  it  proved  successful 
here. 

Intemperance  was  then  under  treatment  by  "Wash- 
ingtonianism.  By  this  philosophy  it  was  held  that 
each  man  consists  of  about  thirty  pounds  of  solid  mat 
ter,  wet  up  with  several  buckets  of  water;  that  in 
youth  his  mother  and  sweetheart,  kneads,  rolls,  pats  and 
keeps  him  in  shape,  until  his  wife  takes  charge  of 
him  and  makes  him  into  large  loaves  or  little  cakes, 
according  to  family  requirements;  but  must  not  stop 
kneading,  rolling,  patting,  on  pain  of  having  him  all 
flatten  out. 

The  diagnosis  of  drunkenness  was  that  it  was  a 
disease  for  which  the  patient  was  in  no  way  respons 
ible,  that  it  was  created  by  existing  saloons,  and  non- 
existing  bright  hearths,  smiling  wives,  pretty  caps 
and  aprons.  The  cure  was  the  patent  nostrum  of 
pledge-signing,  a  lying-made-easy  invention,  which 


148  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

like  calomel,  seldom  had  any  permanent  effect  on  the 
desease  for  which  it  was  given,  and  never  failed  to 
produce  another  and  a  worse.  Here  the  cure  created 
an  epidemic  of  forgery,  falsehood  and  perjury. 

Napoleon  selected  his  generals  for  their  large  noses. 
Dr.  Washington]' an  chose  his  leaders  for  their  great 
vices.  The  honors  bestowed  upon  his  followers  were 
measured  by  their  crimes,  and  that  man  who  could 
boast  the  largest  accumulation  was  the  hero  of  the 
hour.  A  decent,  sober  man  was  a  mean-spirited  fel 
low;  while  he  who  had  brought  the  grey  hair  of  par 
ents  in  sorrow  to  the  grave,  wasted  his  patrimony  and 
murdered  his  wife  and  children,  was  *'  King  o'  men 
for  a'  that."  The  heroines  were  those  women  who 
had  smilingly  endured  every  wrong,  every  indignity 
that  brutality  could  inflict;  had  endured  them  not 
alone  for  themselves  but  for  their  children ;  and  she 
who  had  caressed  the  father  of  her  child  while  he 
dashed  its  brains  out,  headed  the  list  in  saintship;  for 
love  was  the  kneading  trough,  and  obedience  the  roll 
ing  pin,  in  and  with  which  that  precious  mess  called 
a  man  was  to  be  made  into  an  angel. 

The  Visiter  held  that  the  law-giver  of  Mount  Sinai 
knew  what  was  in  man,  and  had  not  given  any  such  ac 
count  of  him ;  that  the  commands,  "  Thou  shalt,"  and 
"Thou  shalt  not,"  were  addressed  to  each  individual; 
that  the  disease  of  opening  one's  mouth  and  pouring 
whisky  into  it  was  under  the  control  of  the  mouth- 
opener;  that  drunkenness  was  a  crime  for  which  the 
criminal  should  be  punished  by  such  terms  of  impris 
onment  as  would  effectually  protect  society  and  pre 
vent  its  confirmation.  It  told  women  that  that  dough 


MANY  MATTERS.  149 

ought  to  be  baked  in  the  furnace  of  affliction;  that 
the  coil  of  an  anaconda  was  preferable  to  the  embraces 
of  a  drunken  man ;  that  it  is  a  crime  for  a  woman  to 
become  the  mother  of  a  drunkard's  child;  that  she 
who  fails  to  protect  her  child  from  the  drunken  fury 
of  any  man,  even  to  the  extent  of  taking  his  life  on 
the  spot,  if  possible,  is  a  coward  and  a  traitor  to  the 
highest  impulses  of  humanity. 

These  sentiments  made  a  stir  in  temperance  ranks, 
and  there  was  much  defense  of  the  dear  fellows.  The 
organization  seemed  to  be  principally  occupied  in 
teaching,  that  among  men,  only  rumsellers  are  free 
moral  agents,  and  that  they  and  the  women  are  to 
bear  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  One  Philadelphia  woman, 
engaged  in  scattering  rose-leaf  remedies  over  the  great 
cancer  of  the  land,  concluded  that  the  editor  of  the 
Visiter  horsewhipped  the  unfortunate  man  she  called 
husband,  once  a  day,  with  great  regularity.  Much 
sympathy  was  expressed  for  that  much-abused  man ; 
and  this  was  amusing  to  those  who  knew  he  could 
have  tied  fouu  such  tyrants  in  a  sheaf,  and  carried  them 
off  like  a  bundle  of  sticks.  But  people  had  found  a 
monster,  a  giantess,  with  flaming  black  eyes,  square 
jaws  and  big  fists,  who  lived  at  the  top  of  a  very  high 
bean-pole,  and  ate  nothing  but  the  uncooked  flesh  of 
men. 

However,  the  man-eating  idea  came  to  be  useful, 
and  proved  that  a  bad  name  is  better  than  none. 

In  '49,  the  Visiter  began  a  weekly  series  of  "  Letters 
to  Country  Girls,"  which  were  seized  upon  as  a  new 
feature  in  journalism,  were  very  extensively  copied, 
and  won  golden  opinions  from  all  sorts  of  men.  In 


150  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

'54  they  were  collected  in  book  form,  and  "  mine  an 
cient  enemy,"  George  D.  Prentiss,  gave  them  kindly 
notice. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE    MOTHER   CHURCH. 

WHEN  the  Visit er  entered  life,  it  was  still  doubtful 
which  side  of  the  slavery  question  the  Roman  church 
would  take.  O'Connell  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power 
and  popularity,  was  decidedly  anti-slavery,  and  mem 
bers  of  Catholic  churches  chose  sides  according  to  per 
sonal  feeling,  as  did  those  of  other  churches.  It  was 
not  until  1852,  that  abolitionists  began  to  feel  the  alli 
ance  between  Romanism  and  slavery;  but  from  that 
time,  to  be  a  member  of  the  Roman  church  was  to  be 
a  friend  of  "  Southern  interests." 

In  Pittsburg  there  was  great  harmony  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  for  the  Protestant-Irish,  by 
which  "Western  Pennsylvania  was  so  largely  settled, 
were  generally  refugees  driven  from  Ireland  for  their 
connection  with  the  Union,  or  Robert  Emmet  rebel 
lion.  Our  pastor,  Rev.  John  Black,  escaped  in  the 
night,  and  he  and  the  only  Catholic  priest  in  Pittsburg, 
Father  McGuire,  were  intimate  friends. 

The  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  R.  R.  O'Conner,  was,  I 
think,  a  priest  of  the  Capponsacehi  order,  one  of  those 
men  by  whose  existence  the  Creator  renders  a  reason 
for  the  continuance  of  the  race.  After  the  days  of 
which  I  write,  there  was  an  excitement  in  Pittsburg 
about  Miss  Tiernan,  a  beautiful,  accomplished  girl, 


THE  MOTHER  CHURCH.  151 

who  became  a  nun,  and  was  said  to  have  mysteriously 
disappeared.  "When  the  Bishop  resigned  his  office  and 
became  a  member  of  an  austere  order  of  monks,  there 
were  not  lacking  those  who  charged  the  act  to  remorse 
for  his  connection  with  her  unexplained  death;  but  I 
doubt  not,  that  whatever  that  connection  was,  it  did 
honor  to  his  manhood,  however  it  may  have  affected  his 
priesthood. 

In  the  days  of  his  Episcopal  honors,  he  was  a  favor 
ite  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  when  he 
published  a  letter  condemning  our  infant-system  of 
public  schools,  and  demanding  a  division  of  the  school 
fund,  he  produced  a  profound  sensation.  I  think  this 
letter  appeared  in  '49.  It  was  the  morning  of  one  of 
the  days  of  the  week  I  spent  regularly  at  the  office. 
I  found  Mr.  Riddle  waiting  to  ask  what  I  proposed  to 
do  about  it.  I  stated,  without  hesitation,  that  I  would 
oppose  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  when  he  replied : 

"  I  took  it  for  granted  that  you  would,  have  con 
sulted  Mr.  White  (conductor  of  the  Gazette),  and  we 
feel  that  we  cannot  afford  to  lose  our  Catholic  patron 
age  by  taking  issue  with  the  Bishop,  and  that  it  will 
not  be  necessary.  You,  as  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Black,  ought 
to  be  able  to  answer  Bishop  O'Conner's  arguments, 
and  we  will  leave  him  to  you.  The  religious  press 
will,  of  course,  be  a  unit  against  him,  and  the  secular 
press  need  not  fear  to  leave  the  case  in  your  hands." 

The  two  papers  for  which  he  spoke,  were  the  two 
great  Whig  dailies  of  the  western  part  of  the  State. 
The  other  daily  was  the  Democratic  Post,  conducted 
by  a  Catholic,  and  virtually  the  Bishop's  organ;  and  to 
meet  this  attack  on  the  very  foundations  of  civil  lib- 


152  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

erty,  the  Visiter,  a  weekly,  was  the  only  representa 
tive  of  the  secular  press. 

The  "Whig  papers  might  have  taken  a  different 
course,  had  it  been  known  at  first  that  Bishop  O'Con- 
ner's  letter  was  only  a  part  of  a  concerted  attack,  and 
that  all  over  the  Union  the  Bishops  had  published 
similar  letters.  But  this  was  before  the  days  of  tele 
graphy,  and  we  were  weeks  learning  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  movement. 

Bishop  O'Conner  replied  very  courteously  to  my 
strictures  on  his  letter,  and  we  maintained  the  contro 
versy  for  some  length  of  time.  Having  all  the  right 
on  my  side,  I  must  have  been  a  dolt  not  to  make  it 
apparent;  and  the  friends  of  the  Bishop  must  have 
felt  that  he  gained  nothing,  else  they  would  not  have 
been  so  angry;  but  lie  was  courteous  until  he  dropped 
the  subject. 

My  Catholic  patrons  gradually  withdrew  their  ad 
vertisements  and  subscriptions.  Thousands  of  Protest 
ants  were  rejoiced  at  what  they  called  my  triumph, 
and  borrowed  the  Visitor  to  read  my  articles.  Very 
many  bought  copies,  but  I  think  I  did  not  gain  one 
subscriber  or  advertiser  by  that  labor  in  defense  of  a 
common  cause.  Nay,  I  lost  Protestant  as  well  as  Cath 
olic  support,  for  business  men  did  not  care  to  be  known 
to  Catholic  customers  as  a  patron  of  a  paper  which 
had  strenuously  opposed  the  policy  of  the  church. 
That  experience  and  a  close  observation  for  many  years 
have  taught  me  that  the  secular  papers  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  few  exceptions,  are  almost  as  much  un 
der  the  control  of  the  Pontiff  as  the  press  of  Austria. 
Nor  is  it  the  secular  press  alone  which  is  thus  con- 


THE  MOTHER  CHUKCH.  153 

trolled.  There  are  religious  papers  who  throw  "  sops 
to  Cerebus,"  as  an  offset  to  teachings  demanded  by 
Protestant  readers.  These  "  sops  "  are  paid  for  indi 
rectly  by  patronage,  which  would  be  withdrawn  when 
ever  the  Bishop  took  alarm  at  an  article  in  that  same 
paper. 

Protestants  do  not  carry  their  religion  either  into 
political  or  business  relations,  and  so  there  is  no  offset 
to  the  religious,  political  and  business  concentration 
of  Romanism. 

There  was  no  other  outbreak  between  me  and  my 
Catholic  neighbors  until  the  dedication  of  the  Pitts- 
burg  cathedral,  when  my  report  gave  serious  offense, 
and  caused  Bishop  O'Conner  to  make  a  very  bitter 
personal  attack  on  me.  He  did  not  know  how  truly 
the  offensive  features  of  my  report  were  the  result  of 
ignorance;  but  thought  me  irreverent,  blasphemous.  I 
had  never  before  been  inside  a  Catholic  church;  never 
seen  a  Catholic  ceremonial;  did  not  know  the  name  of 
a  single  vestment;  was  overwhelmed  with  astonish 
ment,  and  thought  my  readers  as  ignorant  as  I;  so 
tried  to  give  a  description  which  would  enable  them 
to  see  what  I  had  seen,  hear  what  I  had  heard. 

Every  bishop  and  priest  and  member  of  any  reli 
gious  brotherhood  in  this  country  and  Canada  was  said 
to  be  present.  Some  of  the  things  they  wore  looked 
like  long  night-gowns,  some  short  ones;  some  like  cra 
dle  quilts,  some  like  larger  quilts.  There  were  many 
kinds  of  patch- work  and  embroidery;  some  of  the  men 
wore  skirts  and  looked  very  funny.  Quite  a  number 
wore  something  on  their  heads  which  looked  like  two 
pieces  of  pasteboard,  the  shape  of  a  large  flat-iron,  and 
fastened  together  at  the  right  angles  and  points. 


154  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

They  formed  into  procession  and  started  around  the 
outside  of  the  building.  I  thought  of  going  "  around 
and  about  "  Jerusalem,  and  the  movement  had  a  mean 
ing;  but  they  walked  into  a  fence  corner,  swung  a 
censor,  turned  and  walked  into  another  corner,  and 
then  back  into  the  house,  without  compassing  the 
building.  I  said  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  bad 
spirits  coming  in  at  that  side.  ~  .—-  •« 

I  copied  the  Bishop's  angry  reply,  plead  my  ignor 
ance  and  that  of  Protestants  in  general  for  all  that 
seemed  irreverent,  and  called  upon  him  for  explana 
tions.  What  did  it  all  mean?  What  was  the  spir 
itual  significance  of  those  externals?  I  ignored  his 
evident  anger;  had  no  reason  to  be  other  than  person 
ally  respectful  to  him,  yet  m^  second  article  irritated 
him  more  than  the  first  .  , 

I  had  stated  that  the  men  in  the  procession  were 
the  most  villainous-looking  set  I  had  ever  seen ;  that 
every  head  and  face  save  those  of  the  Bishops  of  Orleans 
and  Pittsburg,  were  more  or  less  stamped  by  sen 
suality  and  low  cunning.  In  Bishop  O'Conner's 
reply,  he  said  I  had  gone  to  look  for  handsome 
men.  I  answered  that  I  had,  and  that  it  was 
right  to  do  so.  The  Church,  in  her  works  of  art, 
had  labored  to  represent  Christ  and  his  apostles 
as  perfectly-formed  men — men  with  spiritual  faces. 
She  had  never  represented  any  of  her  saints  as  a  wine- 
bibber,  a  gross  beef-eater,  or  a  narrow-headed,  crafty, 
cringing  creature.  These  living  men  could  not  be  the 
rightful  successors  of  those  whose  statues  and  pictures 
adorned  that  cathedral.  Archbishop  Hughes,  in  his 
sermon  on  that  occasion,  had  argued  that  all  the  forms 


POLITICS  AND  PRINTERS.  155 

of  the  church  had  a  holy  significance.  What  was  that 
significance?  Moreover,  in  the  days  of  John  there  were 
seven  churches.  Whatever  had  the  Church  of  Rome 
done  with  the  other  six  owned  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos 
by  him  who  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden 
candlesticks? 

For  two  months  every  issue  of  the  Visiter  copied 
and  replied  to  one  of  the  Bishop's  articles,  but  never 
could  bring  him  to  the  point  of  explaining  any  portion 
of  that  great  mystery.  But  the  discussion  marked 
me  as  the  subject  of  a  hatred  I  had  not  deemed  pos 
sible,  and  I  have  seldom,  if  ever,  met  a  Catholic  so 
obscure  that  he  did  not  recognize  my  name  as  that  of 
an  enemy.  So  bitter  was  the  feeling,  that  when  my 
only  baby  came  great  fears  were  felt  lest  she  should 
be  abducted;  but  tmVI  knew  never  could  be  done  with 
Bishop  O'Conner's  consent. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

POLITICS   AND    PRINTERS. 

WHEN  the  Pittsburg  National  Convention,  which 
formed  the  Free  Democratic  party,  had  finished  its 
labors,  a  committee  waited  on  the  Visiter,  to  bespeak 
that  support  which  had  already  been  resolved  upon, 
and  soon  after  a  State  Convention  in  Harrisburg  in 
dorsed  it  by  formal  resolution  as  a  party  organ.  It 
did  its  best  to  spread  the  principles  of  the  party,  and 
its  services  called  out  commendations,  as  well  as  the 
higher  compliments  of  stalwart  opposition  from  the 
foes  of  those  principles. 


156  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Allegheny  county  was  overwhelmingly  "Whig.  The 
Visiter  worked  against  the  party,  and  the  cry  from 
the  "Whig  press  became: 

"  Why  attack  our  party  ?  It  is  better  than  the  Demo 
cratic.  If  you  were  honest,  you  would  devote  your 
self  to  its  destruction,  not  to  that  of  the  Whig." 

To  this,  the  answer  was: 

"  The  "Whig  party  is  a  gold-bearing  quartz  rock,  and 
we  mean  to  pound  it  into  the  smallest  possible  pieces, 
in  order  to  get  out  the  gold.  The  Democratic  party 
is  an  old  red  sandstone,  and  there  is  plenty  of  sand 
lying  all  around  about." 

In  the  summer  of  1852  the  editor  visited  the  World's 
Fair,  held  in  New  York,  and  on  her  return  found 
the  office  machinery  at  a  stand- still.  She  had  a  con 
tract  with  two  printers,  who,  in  making  it,  had  given 
no  notice  that  they  were  -  the  irresponsible  agents  of  a 
union,  and  therefore  had  no  right  to  dispose  of  their 
own  labor.  They  professed  to  be  entirely  satisfied  with 
their  work  and  wages,  and  loath  to  leave  them;  but 
Mars'  Union  had  cracked  his  whip,  and  disobedience 
was  ruin,  if  not  death.  For  these  poor  Pennsylvania 
self-made  slaves  the  Visiter  had.  no  pity,  although  they 
plead  for  it.  It  advertised  for  women  to  take  their 
places,  stating  that  its  editor  was  in  its  composing- 
room.  Other,  if  not  all  other  city  papers,  did  likewise, 
and  there  was  a  rnsh  of  women  to  the  printing  offices; 
but  ninety  out  of  a  hundred  had  not  passed  that  stage 
of  development  in  which  women  live  by  wheedling 
men.  Those  who  wheedled  most  winningly  got  the 
places,  and  the  result  in  less  than  two  months  was 
such  a  mess  of  scandal,  as  drove  thern,  like  whipped 


POLITICS  AND  PRINTERS.  157 

curs,  back  to  their  kennels ;  but  the  editor  of  the  Vis- 
iter  took  a  good  look  at  each  of  the  hundred  appli 
cants,  and  from  them  selected  three,  who  had  heads? 
not  hat  pins,  on  their  shoulders. 

Mr.  Riddle  was  a  partner  in  the  Vwiter,  and  en 
gaged  a  woman.  The  editor  refused  to  give  her  a 
case,  when  he  indignantly  said: 

"  Women  have  no  mercy  on  each  other.  There  is 
that  poor  woman  who  has  been  trying  to  make  a  living 
at  her  trade  making  vests,  and  is  now  on  the  point  of 
starvation.  I  have  mercy  on  her,  but  you  have  none." 

The  answer  was: 

"  A  woman  who  cannot  make  a  living  at  one  good 
trade  already  learned,  will  not  mend  matters  by  learn 
ing  another.  I  do  not  propose  to  turn  this  office  into 
an  eelemosynary  establishment.  I  want  the  women 
whom  the  work  wants,  not  those  who  want  the  work. 
How  long  could  that  weak  woman  maintain  her  re 
spectability  among  all  these  men  ?  Would  it  be  any 
kindness  to  put  her  in  a  place  she  is  incapable  of  fill 
ing,  and  where  she  must  inflict  incalculable  injury  on 
herself,  and  the  general  cause  of  woman's  right  to  la 
bor?  Do  not  let  your  generosity  run  away  with  your 
judgment." 

My  three  typos  came  to  be  the  main  stay  of  the 
Journal,  as  well  as  the  only  typos  of  the  Vi-siter,  for 
they  were  the  nucleus  of  an  efficient  corps  of  female 
type-setters,  who  held  their  places  until  Mr.  Riddle's 
last  illness  broke  down  his  establishment. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Pa.  C.  R.  R.,  there 
was  a  bad  accident,  one  train  running  into  another  in 
a  deep  cut,  at  night;  commenting  on  it  the  Visiter  sug- 


158  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

gested  a  red  light  on  the  rear  of  every  train.  The 
suggestion  was  accepted  immediately,  and  this  is  the 
origin  of  the  red  light  signal. 


CHAPTEE  XXXIII. 

SUMNER,  BURLINGAME  AND  CASSIUS  M.  CLAY. 

THE  Republican  party  was  organized  in  Pittsburg, 
and  when  it  became  national  through  the  Philadel 
phia  convention  in  the  summer  of  '56,  and  nominated 
Fremont,  it  seemed  that  it  might  injure  rather  than 
aid  the  party  to  have  a  woman  take  a  prominent  place 
in  it.  The  nurseling — political  abolition — was  out  of 
its  cradle,  had  grown  to  man's  estate,  and  with  bearded 
lip  had  gone  forth  to  battle,  a  man  among  men.  There 
were  honors  and  emoluments  to  be  won  in  the  cause 
of  the  slave,  and  no  doubt  of  its  final  triumph. 

The  Visiter  had  been  sold  to  Mr.  Riddle  and  united 
with  his  weekly,  thus  extending  its  circulation,  and 
cutting  off  the  ruinous  expense  of  its  publication. 
The  Jouriial  was  thoroughly  Republican,  and  would 
be  ably  conducted.  JSTo  further  need  of  a  page  devoted 
to  freedom,  when  every  page  was  consecrated  to  the 
overthrow  of  slavery. 

Before  taking  action,  it  was  best  to  consult  an  old 
subscriber,  Charles  Sumner,  then  on  the  Allegheny 
Mountains,  recovering  from  the  Brook's  assault.  I 
took  baby  and  went  to  see  him. 

lie  was  domiciled  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
Pennsylvania  State  Geologist,  and  seemed  to  be  one  of 
it.  In  the  sitting-room  were  his  desk  and  lounge, 


SUMNER,  BURLING AME  AND  CASSIUS  M.  CLAY.  150 

where  he  wrote  or  lay  and  talked,  principally  with  Dr. 
Furness,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  with  him,  devoting 
an  ever-growing  store  of  information  to  the  amuse 
ment  of  his  friend.  Dr.  Jackson  was  full  of  instruc 
tion,  and  no  man  more  ready  than  Sumner  to  learn. 
He  held  that  all  knowledge  was  useful  in  adding  to 
one's  resources — inquired  minutely  about  the  shoe 
ing  of  the  horse  he  rode;  and  over  a  watermelon  at 
dessert  the  doctor  gave  a  lecture  on  amputation, 
which  became  a  large  capital  to  one  at  least  of  his 
hearers,  and  was  of  intense  interest  to  Sumner. 

The  children  loved  him,  loved  to  be  near  him,  and 
never  seemed  to  be  in  his  way.  Once  when  a  toddling 
wee  thing  crept  to  his  side  while  he  was  absorbed  in 
writing,  took  hold  of  his  clothes,  drew  herself  to  his 
feet  and  laid  her  head  against  his  knee,  he  placed  a 
weight  to  hold  his  paper,  laid  his  hand  on  her  head 
and  went  on  with  his  work.  When  some  one  would 
have  removed  her,  he  looked  up  and  said: 

"  Oh,  let  the  little  one  alone!" 

He  spoke  with  profound  admiration  of  Mrs.  Purvi- 
ance,  wife  of  the  member  of  Congress  from  Butler,  Pa. 
Said  he  was  sorry  never  to  have  met  her.  Her  influ 
ence  in  Washington  society  had  been  so  ennobling  that 
the  friends  of  freedom  owed  her  a  lasting  debt  of  grati 
tude.  She  boarded  with  her  husband  at  the  National 
where  her  wealth,  independence  and  sparkling  social 
qualities  made  her  a  recognized  leader,  while  all  her 
influence  was  cast  upon  the  right  side.  He  thought 
the  success  of  the  North  in  the  famous  struggle  which 
elected  Banks  Speaker  of  the  House,  was  largely  due  to 
Mrs.  Purviance. 


160  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

He  was  oppressed  with  anxiety  about  Burlingame, 
who  had  gone  to  Canada  to  fight  a  duel,  and  there  was 
great  rejoicing,  when  he  suddenly  appeared  one  even 
ing  after  the  sun  had  hidden  behind  the  pine  trees. 

He  and  Sumner  met  and  greeted  each  other  with 
the  abandon  of  boys.  No  duel  had  been  fought,  since 
Brooks,  the  challenger,  had  refused  to  pass  through 
Pennsylvania  to  Clifton,  the  place  of  meeting,  for  fear 
of  mob  violence.  Even  the  offer  of  a  safe  conduct  of 
troops  by  the  governor,  failed  to  reassure  him,  and 
Burlingame  had  hurried  on  to  set  his  friend's  mind  at 
rest.  After  the  general  rejoicing,  the  two  sat  facing 
each  other,  when  Sumner  leaned  forward,  placed  a 
hand  on  each  of  Burlingame's  shoulders,  and  said : 

"Tell  me,  Anson,  you  did  not  mean  to  shoot  that 
man,  did  you?" 

Burlingame's  head  dropped  an  instant,  then  rais 
ing  it,  he  said,  slowly: 

"I  intended  to  take  the  best  aim  I  could."  Here  he 
drew  back  his  right  arm,  and  took  the  position  of 
holding  a  gun,  "at  the  broadest  part  of  him,  his 
breast;  wait  for  the  word,  and  then — fire!  " 

Sumner  dropped  back  in  his  chair,  let  his  hands  fall 
on  his  knees  and  exclaimed,  sorrowfully: 

"  Oh,  Anson!     I  did  not  believe  it." 

Burlingame's  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  he  said : 

"  Charles,  I  saw  you  lying  bleeding  and  insensible 
on  the  Senate  floor,  when  I  did  not  expect  ever  again 
to  hear  yon  speak;  and  I  intended  then  to  kill  him. 
I  tell  you,  Charles,  we  have  got  to  meet  those  fellows 
with  guns,  some  day,  and  the  sooner  we  begin,  the 
better." 


SUMMER,  BURLING  AME  AND  CASSIUS  M.  CLAY.  161 

On  being  consulted,  both  these  champions  of  the 
right  said  the  Visiter  must  not  desert  the  cause. 
Sumner  added  solemnly: 

"  The  slave  never  had  more  need  of  it;  never  had 
more  need  of  you." 

So  that  editor  went  on  with  her  work,  feeling  such 
an  opinion  as  almost  a  divine  call. 

In  talking  with  Mr.  Sumner  during  that  visit,  I 
learned  that  the  same  doctor  attended  both  President 
Harrison  and  President  Taylor  in  their  last  illness, 
and  used  his  professional  authority  to  prevent  their 
friends  seeing  them  until  the  fatal  termination  of  their 
illness  was  certain.  Also,  that  it  was  that  same  doc 
tor  who  was  within  call  when  Brooks  made  his  assault 
on  Sumner,  took  charge  of  the  case,  and  made  an  offi 
cial  statement  that  the  injury  was  very  slight,  gave  it 
a  superficial  dressing,  and  sought  to  exclude  every  one 
from  the  room  of  his  patient.  Said  Sumner: 

"  I  shuddered  when  I  recovered  consciousness,  and 
found  this  man  beside  me." 

He  dismissed  him  promptly,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  he  believed  he  would  not  have  recovered 
under  his  treatment.  When  the  South  seceded,  this 
useful  man  left  "Washington  and  joined  the  Con 
federacy. 

The  campaign  of  1856  was  very  spirited.  A  large 
mass  meeting  was  held  in  Pittsburg,  and  Cassius  M. 
Clay  was  the  orator  of  the  occasion.  He  was  at  the 
heighth  of  a  great  national*  popularity,  and  seemed  as 
if  any  honor  might  be  open  to  him.  He  dined  that 
evening  with  Robert  Palmer,  of  Allegheny,  and  a 
small  party  of  friends.  The  house  was  brilliantly 
11 


162  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

lighted,  and  at  the  table,  while  Clay  was  talking,  and 
every  one  in  gala  day  spirits,  the  light  suddenly  went 
out,  and  what  a  strange  sensation  fell  on  one  guest — a 
feeling  of  coming  evil. 

There  was  no  re-lighting.  The  gas  had  failed,  pro 
phetic  of  the  going  out  of  that  brilliant  career,  and 
its  slow  ending  in  the  glimmer  of  a  single  candle. . 

CHAPTER   XXXIY. 

FINANCE  AND  DESERTION. 

THE  Pittsburg  Saturday  Visiter  began  life  with 
two  subscribers,  and  in  the  second  year  reached  six 
thousand,  but  was  always  a  heavy  drain  on  my  income. 
My  domestic  duties  made  it  impossible  I  could  give 
any  attention  to  the  business  department,  and  I  was 
glad,  at  the  close  of  the  first  year,  to  transfer  a  half 
interest  to  Mr.  Kiddle,  who  became  equal  partner  and 
co-editor.  At  the  end  of  the  second  year  he  proposed 
to  buy  my  interest,  unite  the  Visiter  with  his  weekly, 
and  pay  me  a  salary  for  editing  a  page. 

Had  the  proposal  been  made  directly  to  me,  I  should 
have  accepted  at  once,  but  it  was  made  through  my 
brother-in-law,  William  Swisshelm,  who  had  been 
clerk  and  business  manager  of  the  Visiter  for  eighteen 
months.  He  advised  me  not  to  accept;  said  the  paper 
was  netting  fifteen  hundred  a  year,  and  that  if  I  would 
retain  my  interest  he  would  purchase  Mr.  Riddle's, 
get  type,  have  all  the  work  done  in  a  separate  estab 
lishment,  and  make  it  a  decided  success. 

I  was  afraid  of  this  arrangement,  but  was  anxious 


FINANCE  AND  DESERTION.  163 

to  keep  up  the  paper  as  a  separate  publication,  and 
agreed  on  condition  that  he  would  assume  the  entire 
financial  responsibility,  keep  my  interest  at  Mr.  Rid 
dle's  valuation,  and  leave  me  no  further  risk  than  my 
services.  If  there  were  profits,  we  would  share  them ; 
if  none,  I  got  no  pay,  as  usual,  but  sunk  no  money. 
To  make  the  changes  he  desired,  I  loaned  him  money 
until  I  had  most  of  my  small  estate  invested,  and  sup 
posed  the  paper  was  prospering  until  suddenly  in 
formed  that  the  sheriff  was  about  to  sell  it.  We 
transferred  it  to  Mr.  Riddle,  with  my  services  two 
years  in  advance,  to  pay  the  debts,  and  I  wrote  for  the 
E"ew  York  Tribune,  at  five  dollars  a  column,  to  meet 
my  personal  expenses,  as  my  income  from  my  proper 
ty  was  gone. 

I  forget  at  what  time  the  Visit er  was  united  to  the 
weekly  Journal;  but  very  soon  after  the  presidential 
campaign  of  '52,  I  learned  that  my  late  partner  had 
endorsed  several  notes  which  were  not  likely  to  be 
paid  by  the  persons  who  gave  them,  and  that  one  of 
these  was  already  entered  as  a  lien  against  his  inte 
rest  in  the  family  estate.  "We  had  had  no  settlement, 
so  I  went  to  my  lawyer,  William  M.  Shinn,  who  said 
that  the  entire  interest  of  my  debtor  in  his  father's 
will  was  worth  less  than  my  claim  since  his  death, 
without  heirs,  before  his  mother,  transferred  his  share 
to  the  other  heirs.  He  advised  me,  if  possible,  to  get 
a  deed  of  that  share  as  the  only  security  for  which  I 
could  hope.  I  directed  him  to  prepare  it,  went  im 
mediately  to  the  office,  saw  my  late  partner,  and  told 
him  that  if  he  did  not  execute  that  deed,  I  would  sue 
him  for  a  settlement  before  I  left  the  city.  He  did, 
and  I  took  it  home  early  in  the  afternoon. 


164:  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Iii  March  '57,  I  resigned  my  place  on  the  Family 
Journal  and  Visiter,  feeling  that  my  public  work 
was  over,  and  that  no  life  save  one  of  absolute  soli 
tude  was  possible  for  me. 

I  had  lived  over  twenty  years  without  the  legal  right 
to  be  alone  one  hour — to  have  the  exclusive  use  of  one 
foot  of  space — to  receive  an  unopened  letter,  or  to  pre 
serve  a  line  of  manuscript 

"  From  sharp  and  sly  inspection." 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  Penn 
sylvania  court  decided  that  a  husband  had  a  right  to 
open  and  read  any  communication  addressed  to  his 
wife.  Living  as  I  did,  under  this  law  I  had  burned 
the  private  journal  kept  in  girlhood,  and  the  letters 
received  from  my  brother,  mother,  sister  and  other 
friends,  to  preserve  their  contents  from  the  comments 
of  the  farm  laborers  and  female  help,  who,  by  com 
mon  custom,  must  eat  at  our  table  and  take  part  in 
our  conversation.  At  the  office  I  had  received,  read  and 
burned,  without  answer,  letters  from  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  and  women  of  the  era;  letters  which 
would  be  valuable  history  to-day;  have,  therefore,  no 
private  papers,  and  write  this  history,  except  a  few 
public  dates,  entirely  from  memory. 

Into  the  mists  some  rays  of  light  penetrated,  and 
by  them  I  saw  that  the  marriage  contract  by  which  I 
was  bound,  was  that  one  which  I  had  made  and  which 
secured  my  liberty  of  conscience  and  voice  in  choosing 
a  home. 

The  fraud  by  which  church  and  state  substituted 
that  bond  made  for  Saxon  swine-herds,  who  ate  boar's 
heads,  lived  in  unchinked  houses  and  wore  brass  col- 


FINANCE  AND  DESEETION.  165 

lars,  in  the  days  wlien  Alfred  the  Great  was  king,  was 
such  as  would  vitiate  any  other  contract,  and  must 
annul  even  that  of  marriage;  but,  granting  that  it 
was  binding,  it  must  bind  both  parties,  and  had  been 
broken  by  the  party  of  the  other  part  through  failure 
to  comply  with  its  requirements. 

Our  marriage  had  been  a  mistake,  productive  of 
mutual  injury;  but  for  one,  it  was  not  too  late  to  re 
pair  the  wrong.  He,  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  with 
unspotted  reputation,  living  without  labor,  on  the  in 
come  of  a  patrimonial  estate,  to  which  he  had  made 
large  additions,  could  easily  find  a  help-mate  for  him; 
one  who  could  pad  matrimonial  fetters  with  those 
devices  by  which  husbands  are  managed.  My  de 
sertion  would  leave  him  free  to  make  a  new  choice, 
and  I  could  more  easily  earn  a  living  alone. 

The  much-coveted  and  long-delayed  birth  of  a  living 
child  appeared  to  have  barred  my  appeal  to  this  last 
resort,  but  the  mother's  right  to  the  custody  of  her 
infant  is  one  I  would  defend  to  the  taking  of  life. 

My  husband  would  consent  to  no  separation,  and 
we  had  a  struggle  for  my  separate,  personal  property 
or  its  equivalent;  a  struggle  in  which  "Wm.  M.  Shinn 
was  my  lawyer,  and  Judge  Mellon  his,  and  in  which 
I  secured  my  piano  by  replevin,  Dr.  John  Scott  being 
my  bondsman,  and  learned  that  I  might  not  call  a 
porter  into  the  house  to  remove  my  trunk.  I  there 
fore  got  my  clothing,  some  books,  china  and  bedding 
by  stealth,  and  the  assistance  of  half  a  dozen  families 
of  neighbors. 

A  test  suit  as  to  my  right  to  support  was  decided 
in  1859,  and  in  it  a  judge  in  my  native  city,  charged 
the  jury  that: 


166  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

"  If  a  wife  have  no  dress  and  her  husband  refuse  to 
provide  one,  she  may  purchase  one — a  plain  dress — 
not  silk,  or  lace,  or  any  extravagance;  if  she  have  no 
shoes,  she  may  get  a  pair;  if  she  be  sick  and  he  re 
fuse  to  employ  a  physician,  she  may  send  for  one,  and 
get  the  medicine  he  may  prescribe ;  and  for  these  neces 
saries  the  husband  is  liable,  but  here  his  liability 
ceases." 

The  suit  was  about  goods  I  had  purchased  by  my 
lawyer's  advice — two  black  silk  dresses,  a  thirty  dollar 
shawl,  a  dozen  pairs  black  kid  gloves,  stockings,  flannel, 
linen,  half  dozen  yards  white  Brussels  lace,  any  one 
of  which  would  have  outlawed  the  bill,  even  if  I  had 
gone  in  an  Eden  costume  to  make  the  purchase;  but 
being  clothed  when  I  made  my  appearance  at  the 
counter,  the  merchant  could  not  plead  that  I  "  had  no 
dress,"  and  lost  his  case. 

In  a  subsequent  suit  carried  up  to  the  Supreme  Court 
and  decided  in  '68,  it  was  proved  that  my  husband 
had  forbidden  our  merchant  to  credit  me  on  his  ac 
count,  and  the  merchant's  books  presented  in  court 
showed  that  for  twelve  years  he  had  kept  two  separate 
accounts,  one  against  iny  husband  and  one  against  me. 
On  his  were  charged  clothing  for  himself,  mother, 
brothers  and  employes,  common  groceries,  etc. ;  while 
on  mine  were  entered  all  my  clothing,  all  high-priced 
tea,  white  sugar,  etc.,  all  table-ware,  line  cutlery,  table 
linen,  bedding,  curtain  sand  towels;  on  his  were,  credits 
for  farm  products;  on  mine,  only  cash;  and  he  was 
credited  with  butter  and  eggs  on  the  same  clay  that  I 
was  charged  with  bed-ticking  and  towels.  My  per 
sonal  expenses  from  'Nov.  18,  '36,  the  date  of  our  mar- 


FINANCE  AND  DESEKTION.  167 

riage,  until  "Nov.  18,  '56,  twenty  years,  averaged  less 
than  fifty  dollars  a  year.  All  my  husband's  labor  for  all 
his  life,  and  mine  for  twenty  years,  with  a  large  part 
of  my  separate  property,  had  gone  to  swell  his  moth 
er's  estate,  on  the  proceeds  of  which  she  kept  her  car 
riage  and  servants  until  she  died,  aged  ninety-four, 
while  I  earned  a  living  for  myself  and  his  only  child. 

I  left  Pittsburg  with  my  baby  about  the  20th  of 
May,  '57,  and  went  by  boat  to  St.  Paul.  Before  leav 
ing,  I  went  to  settle  with  Mr.  Riddle  and  say  good 
bye,  and  found  him  much  troubled.  He  said : 

"  Why  is  it  I  have  known  nothing  of  all  this?  I 
did  not  dream  there  was  anything  wrong  in  your  do 
mestic  relations,  and  may  have  been  selfish  and  incon 
siderate." 

My  husband,  mine  no  more,  came  upon  the  boat 
while  she  lay  at  the  wharf,  held  baby  on  his  knee  and 
wept  over  her;  when  the  last  bell  rang,  he  bade  me 
good-bye;  carried  her  to  the  gangway,  held  her  to  the 
last  moment,  then  placed  her  in  my  arms,  sprang 
ashore  and  harried  up  the  wharf.  He  would,  I  think, 
have  carried  her  off,  but  that  he  knew  she  would  break 
his  heart  crying  for  mother  before  I  could  get  to  her. 

He  had  once  taken  her  away  in  a  fit  of  anger  and 
walked  the  floor  with  her  most  of  the  night,  seriously 
alarmed  for  her  life,  and  could  not  venture  on  that  ex 
periment  again.  He  loved  her  most  tenderly,  and  his 
love  was  as  tenderly  returned.  Since,  as  a  duty  to  her, 
I  was  careful  to  teach  her  to  "honor  thy  father"  on 
earth  as  well  as  in  heaven. 

Had  he  and  I  gone  into  the  pine  woods,  as  he  pro 
posed,  upon  marriage;  had  we  been  married  under  an 


168  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

equitable  law  or  had  he  emigrated  to  Minnesota,  as  he 
proposed,  before  I  thought  of  going,  there  would  have 
been  no  separation;  but  after  fifteen  years  in  his 
mother's  house  I  must  run  away  or  die,  and  leave  my 
child  to  a  step- mother.  So  I  ran  away.  He  thought 
I  would  return;  enlarged  and  improved  the  house, 
wrote  and  waited  for  us ;  could  make  no  deed  without 
my  signature;  I  would  sign  none,  and  after  three  years 
he  got  a  divorce  for  desertion.  In  'TO  he  married 
again,  and  I  having,  voluntarily,  assumed  the  legal 
guilt  of  breaking  my  marriage  contract,  do  cheerfully 
accept  the  legal  penalty — a  life  of  celibacy — bringing  no 
charge  against  him  who  was  my  husband,  save  that  he 
was  not  much  better  than  the  average  man.  Knew  his 
rights,  and  knowing  sought  to  maintain  them  against 
me;  while,  in  some  respects,  he  was  to  me  incalcul 
ably  more  than  just.  Years  after  I  left  him,  he  said 
to  our  neighbor,  Miss  Hawkins,  when  speaking  of  me: 

"  I  believe  she  is  the  best  woman  God  ever  made, 
and  we  would  have  had  no  trouble  but  for  her  friends." 

My  sister  had  removed  with  her  husband  to  St. 
Cloud,  Minnesota,  and  through  him  I  had  secured 
forty  acres  of  land  on  the  shore  of  one  of  a  nest  of 
lovely  lakes,  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi, 
twelve  miles  from  St.  Cloud.  On  this  little  farm  I 
would  build  a  cabin  of  tamarac  logs,  with  the  bark  on 
and  the  ends  sticking  out  at  the  corners  criss-cross. 
My  cabin  would  have  one  room  and  a  loft,  each  with 
a  floor  of  broad  rough  boards  well  jointed,  and  a  lad 
der  to  go  from  one  to  the  other.  It  would  have  an 
open  fire-place,  a  rough  flag  hearth,  and  a  rustic  porch, 
draped  with  hop  vines  and  wild  roses.  I  would  have 


FINANCE  AND  DESEKTION.  169 

a  boat,  catch  fish  and  raise  poultry.  !N"o  sound  of 
strife  should  ever  come  into  my  cabin  but  those  of 
waves,  winds,  birds  and  insects.  Ah,  what  a  paradise 
it  would  be! 

I  had  not  yet  learned  that  every  human  soul  is  a 
Shunamite,  u  a  company  of  two  armies,"  and  wherever 
there  is  one,  there  is  strife. 

To  live  is  to  contend, 

And  life  is  finished  when  contentions  end. 

At  St.  Paul  I  took  a  stage,  and  night  came  on  when 
we  were  still  twenty  miles  from  St.  Cloud.  The  wolves 
stood  and  looked  at  the  stage,  and  I  knew  they  were 
between  me  and  my  hermitage;  but  they  were  only 
prairie  wolves,  and  all  day  my  cabin  had  been  grow 
ing  more  and  more  beautiful.  The  lakes,  the  flowers, 
the  level  prairies  and  distant  knolls,  but  most  of  all 
the  oak  openings  were  enchanting,  and  in  one  of  these 
my  cabin  would  stand. 

The  passengers  talked  politics  and  I  talked  too,  and 
one  man  said  to  me: 

"  Did  you  say  you  were  going  to  St.  Cloud? 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  I  tell  you,  madam,  them  sentiments  of  yours 
won't  go  down  there.  Gen.  Lowrie  don't  allow  no 
abolition  in  these  parts  and  he  lives  in  St.  Cloud." 

I  had  had  many  surprises,  but  few  to  equal  this; 
had  heard  of  Gen.  Lowrie  as  a  man  of  immense  wealth 
and  influence,  but  no  one  had  hinted  at  this  view  of 
his  character.  I  had  thought  of  him  as  the  friend  of 
my  friends;  but  as  the  other  passengers  were  confirm 
ing  this  account  and  I  watching  the  wolves,  there 
flashed  across  my  mind  the  thought: 


170  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  This  is  a  broad  country ;  but  if  this  be  true,  there 
is  not  room  in  it  for  Gen.  Lowrie  and  me." 


CHAPTEE    XXXY. 

MY   HERMITAGE. 

IT  was  midnight  before  we  reached  East  St.  Cloud, 
the  ferry-boat  had  stopped  running,  so  that  it  was 
&  uiigiit  morning  the  7th  of  June  when  I  found  my 
self  in  half  a  dozen  pairs  of  loving  arms.  In  a  few 
days  we  made  an  excursion  to  the  site  of  my  cabin.  It 
was  more  beautiful  than  I  had  thought.  On  the  oppo 
site  side  of  the  lake  lived  Captain  Briggs,  with  a  head 
full  of  sea-stories,  and  a  New  England  wife.  My  her 
mitage  would  be  greatly  improved  by  such  neighbors 
only  one  mile  distant,  and  as  the  captain  had  lately 
killed  two  large  bears  between  his  house  and  the  site 
of  mine,  there  would  soon  be  no  more  bears.  But  I 
must  have  the  loft  of  iny  cabin  large  enough  for  sev 
eral  beds,  as  the  children  insisted  on  spending  their 
summers  with  me.  Brother  Harry  bespoke  a  second 
room,  for  he  would  want  a  place  to  stay  all  night  when 
out  hunting  with  his  friends,  and  my  hermitage  began 
to  grow  into  a  hotel. 

I  had  commenced  arrangements  with  workmen, 
when  Harry  said  to  me: 

"  Sis,  Elizabeth  and  I  have  talked  this  matter  over, 
and  if  you  persist,  we  will  take  out  a  writ  of  lunacy. 
There  is  not  a  man  in  this  territory  who  would  not 
say  on  oath,  that  you  are  insane  to  think  of  going  where 
the  bears  would  eat  you  if  the  Indians  did  not  kill  you. 


THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR.  171 

The  troops  are  ordered  away  from  the  forts ;  you'll  get 
frontier  life  enough  with  us,  for  we  are  going  to  have 
music  with  the  Indians." 

Next  day  the  troops  from  Fort  Kipley  marched  past, 
on  their  way  to  Kansas,  to  put  down  the  Free  State 
party.  Bleeding  Kansas  was  called  on  for  more  blood, 
and  United  States  soldiers  were  to  sacrifice  the  friends 
of  freedom  on  the  altar  of  slavery.  The  people  of 
Minnesota  were  left  without  protection  from  savages, 
that  the  people  of  Kansas  might  be  given  over  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  men  no  less  barbarous  than  the 
Sioux. 

I  had  run  away  from  the  irrepressible  conflict,  feel 
ing  that  my  work  was  done;  had  fled  to  the  great 
Northwest — forever  consecrated  to  freedom  by  solemn 
act  and  deed  of  the  nation — thinking;  I  should  see  no 

O 

more  of  our  national  curse,  when  here  it  confronted 
me  as  it  had  never  done  before. 

My  cabin  perished  in  a  night,  like  Jonah's  gourd — 
perished  that  liberty  might  be  crushed  in  Kansas;  for 
without  a  garrison  at  Fort  Kipley,  my  project  was  ut 
terly  insane. 


CHAPTER  XXXYI. 

THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR. 

EVEEY  day,  from  my  arrival  in  St.  Cloud,  evidence 
had  been  accumulating  of  the  truth  of  that  stage-whis 
per  about  Gen.  Lowrie,  who  lived  in  a  semi-barbaric 
splendor,  in  an  imposing  house  on  the  bank  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  where  he  kept  slaves,  bringing  them  from  and 


172  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

returning  them  to  his  Tennessee  estate,  at  his  conven 
ience,  and  no  man  saying  him  naj. 

He  owned  immense  tracts  of  land;  had  and  disposed 
of  all  the  government  contracts  he  pleased;  traveled 
over  Europe  with  his  salaried  physician ;  said  to  this 
man  "  go,"  and  he  went,  to  that  "  come,"  and  he  came, 
and  to  a  third  "  do  this,"  and  it  was  done.  But  of  all 
his  commands  "go  "was  most  potent;  for,  as  presi 
dent  of  a  claim  club,  his  orders  to  pre-emptors  were 
enforced  by  Judge  Lynch.  He  never  condescended 
to  go  to  Congress,  but  sent  an  agent;  furnished  all  the 
Democratic  votes  that  could  possibly  be  wanted  in  any 
emergency,  and  nobody  wondered  when  a  good  list 
came  from  a  precinct  in  which  no  one  lived. 

Eepublicans  on  their  arrival  in  his  dominion,  were 
converted  to  the  Democratic  faith,  fast  as  sinners  to 
Christianity  in  a  Maffitt  meeting,  and  those  on  whom 
the  spirit  fell  not,  kept  very  quiet.  People  had  gone 
there  to  make  homes,  not  to  fight  the  Southern  tiger, 
and  any  attempt  against  such  overwhelming  odds 
seemed  madness,  for  Lowrie's  dominion  was  largely 
legitimate.  He  was  one  of  those  who  are  born  to  com 
mand — of  splendid  physique  and  dignified  bearing, 
superior  intellect  and  mesmeric  fascination.  His  nat 
ural  advantages  had  been  increased  by  a  liberal  educa 
tion;  he  had  been  brought  up  among  slaves,  lived 
among  Indians  as  agent  and  interpreter,  felt  his  own 
superiority,  and  asserted  it  with  the  full  force  of  hon 
est  conviction. 

On  all  hands  he  was  spoken  of  as  Dictator,  and  there 
was  both  love  and  respect  mingled  with  the  fear  by 
which  he  governed.  His  father  was  a  Presbyterian 


THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR.  173 

minister,  who  taught  that  slavery  was  divine,  and  both 
were  generous  and  lenient  masters.  He  was  the  em 
bodiment  of  the  slave  power.  All  its  brute  force,  pious 
pretenses,  plausibility,  chivalry,  all  the  good  and  bad 
of  the  Southern  character;  all  the  weapons  of  the  army 
of  despotism  were  concentrated  in  this  man,  the  friend 
of  my  friends,  the  man  who  stood  ready  to  set  me  on 
the  pinnacle  of  social  distinction  by  his  recognition. 
Across  the  body  of  the  prostrate  slave  lay  the  road  to 
wealth,  and  many  good  men  had  shut  their  eyes  and 
stepped  over. 

The  territorial  government  under  "Buchanan  was  a 
mere. tool  of  slavery.  Every  federal  officer  was  a  South 
erner,  or  a  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles. 
Government  gold  flowed  freely  in  that  channel,  and  to 
the  eagles  Gen.  Lowrie  had  but  to  say,  as  to  his  other 
servants,  "  come,"  and  they  flew  into  his  exchequer. 

So  thoroughly  was  Minnesota  under  the  feet  of 
slavery,  that  in  September,  '60 — after  we  thought  the 
State  redeemed — the  house  of  William  D.  Babbitt,  in 
Minneapolis,  was  surrounded  from  midnight  until 
morning  by  a  howling  mob,  stoning  it,  firing  guns  and 
pistols,  attempting  to  force  doors  and  windows,  and 
only  prevented  gaining  entrance  by  the  solidity  of  the 
building  and  the  bravery  of  its  defense.  It  was  thus 
besieged  because  its  owner  and  occupant  had  dared 
interfere  to  execute  the  common  law  in  favor  of  free 
dom. 

Minneapolis  and  its  twin-city  St.  Anthony  each  had 
a  large  first-class  hotel,  to  which  Southern  people  re 
sorted  in  summer,  bringing  their  slaves,  holding 
them  often  for  months,  and  taking  them  back  to  the 


174  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

South,  no  one  daring  to  make  objection;  until  one 
woman,  Eliza  Winston,  appealed  to  Mr.  Babbitt,  who 
took  her  into  court,  where  Judge  Yanderbilt  decreed  her 
freedom,  on  the  ground  that  her  claimant  had  forfeited 
his  title  by  bringing  her  into  a  free  State. 

At  the  rendering  of  this  decree,  Rev.  Knickerbocker, 
rector  of  the  only  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
city,  arose  in  open  court,  and  charged  the  judge  with 
giving  an  unrighteous  judgment.  He  condemned  the 
law  as  at  war  with  Scripture  and  the  rights  of  the  mas 
ter,  and  its  enforcement  as  injurious  to  the  best  inter 
ests  of  the  community.  It  was  the  old  story  of  Deme 
trius;  and  the  people,  already  keenly  alive  to  the  profit 
of  boarding  Southern  families  with  their  servants,  were 
glad  to  have  a  mantle  of  piety  thrown  over  their  love 
of  gain.  The  court  room  was  packed,  and  under  the 
eloquent  appeal  of  the  reverend  gentleman,  it  soon 
became  evident  the  populace  would  make  a  rush,  take 
the  woman  out  of  the  hands  of  the  law,  and  deliver 
her  to  the  master. 

She  and  her  friends  had  about  lost  hope,  wrhen  an 
unlooked  for  diversion  called  attention  from  them. 
The  red  head  of  "  Bill  King,"  afterwards  post-master 
of  the  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives,  arose,  like  the 
burning  bush  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Horeb,  and  his 
stentorian  voice  poured  forth  such  a  torrent  of  denun 
ciation  on  priest-craft,  such  a  flood  of  solid  swearing 
against  the  insolence  and  tyranny  of  ecclesiasticism, 
that  people  were  surprised  into  inactivity,  until  Mr. 
Babbitt  got  the  woman  in  his  carriage  and  drove  off 
with  her. 

There  could  no  longer  be  a  question  of  her  legal 


THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR.  175 

right  to  her  own  body  and  soul;  blither  friends  knew 
that  the  law  of  freedom  had  lain  too  long  dormant  to 
be  enforced  now  without  further  serious  opposition, 
and  Mr.  Babbitt  brought  into  use  his  old  training  on 
the  underground  railroad  to  throw  the  blood-hounds 
off  the  scent,  so  secreted  the  woman  in  the  house  of 
Prof.  Stone,  and  prepared  his  own  strong  residence  to 
bear  a  siege.  For  that  siege  preparations  were  made 
by  the  clerical  party  during  the  afternoon  and  even 
ing,  without  any  effort  at  concealment,  and  to  brute 
force  the  besieging  party  added  brute  cunning. 

It  was  known  that  in  my  lecturing  tours,  I  was  often 
Mr.  Babbitt's  guest,  and  might  arrive  at  any  hour.  So, 
shortly  after  midnight,  the  door-bell  was  rung,  when 
Mr.  Babbitt  inquired: 

"  Who  is  there?" 

"Mrs.  Swisshelm.' 

"It  is  not  Mrs.  Swisshelm's  voice?" 

"  William  Griffin  (a  colored  porter)  is  with  her." 

"  It  is  not  William  Griffin's  voice." 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  there  were  signs  of  a  multi 
tude  on  the  porch,  and  with  an  oath  the  speaker 
replied : 

"  We  want  that  slave." 

"You  cannot  have  her." 

A  rush  was  made  to  burst  in  the  door,  but  it  was  of 
solid  walnut  and  would  not  yield,  when  the  assailants 
brought  fence-posts  to  batter  it  in,  and  were  driven 
back  by  a  shot  from  a  revolver  in  the  hall.  The  mob 
retired  to  a  safer  distance,  and  the  leader — mine  host 
of  a  first-class  hotel — mounted  the  carriage-block  and 
harangued  his  followers  on  the  sacred  duty  of  securing 


176  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  financial  prosperity  of  the  two  cities  by  restoring 
Eliza  Winston  to  her  owners,  and  made  this  distinct 
declaration  of  principles  : 

"I  came  to  this  State  with  five  thousand  dollars; 
have  but  five  hundred  left,  but  will  spend  the  last  cent 
to  see  'Bill'  Babbitt's  heart's  blood." 

After  which  heroic  utterance  a  fresh  volley  of  stones 
and  shots  were  fired,  and  fresh  rush  made  for  doors 
and  windows.  The  side-lights  of  the  front  door  had 
been  shattered,  and  one  burly  ruffian  thrust  himself 
half-way  in,  but  stuck,  when  a  defender  leveled  a  re 
volver  at  his  head,  and  said  to  Mrs.  Babbitt,  who  was 
then  in  command  of  the  ball,  while  her  husband  de 
fended  the  parlor  windows: 

"Shall  I  shoot  him?" 

"  Yes,  shoot  him  like  a  dog." 

But  Mrs.  Edward  Messer,  her  sister,  who  knew  Mr. 
Babbitt's  dread  of  taking  life,  knocked  the  pistol  up 
and  struck  the  ruffian's  head  with  a  stick,  when  it  was 
withdrawn,  and  again  the  mob  fell  back  and  resorted 
to  stones  and  sticks  and  oaths  and  bowlings  and  gun 
shots,  and  threats  of  firing  the  house. 

Mrs.  Babbitt  thought  that  personal  appeals  might 
bring  citizens  to  the  rescue,  and  in  an  interval  of  black 
darkness  between  lightning  flashes,  escaped  through  a 
back  cellar  way,  and  had  almost  reached  the  shelter  of 
a  cornfield  adjoining  the  garden,  when  the  lightning 
revealed  her  and  three  men  started  in  pursuit.  It 
was  two  months  before  the  birth  of  one  of  her  chil 
dren,  and  Mr.  Elliott,  a  neighbor  who  was  hastening 
to  the  rescue,  say/  her  danger  and  ran  to  engage  her 
pursuers.  Stumbling  through  the  corn,  he  encoun- 


THE  MINNESOTA  DICTATOR.  177 

tered  one  and  cudgeled  him,  but  all  were  separated  by 
the  darkness.     Mrs.  Babbitt,  however,  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  more  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  city, 
and  the  first  man  she  called  upon  for  help,  replied: 
- "  You  have  made  your  bed — lie  in  it!" 

The  sheriff  came,  with  two  or  three  men,  and  talked 
to  the  mob,  which  dispersed  before  daylight,  with  open 
threats  to  "have  Babbitt's  heart's  blood,"  and  for 
months  his  family  lived  in  momentary  apprehension 
of  his  murder.  For  months  he  was  hooted  at  in  the 
streets  of  Minneapolis  as  "  nigger  thief,"  and  called 
"  Eliza."  ~No  arrests  were  made,  and  he  has  always 
felt  it  fortunate  that  Mrs.  Messer  prevented  the  shoot 
ing  of  the  man  in  the  side-light,  as  he  thinks  to  this 
day  that  in  the  state  of  public  sentiment,  the  man 
firing  the  shot  would  have  been  hanged  for  murder  by 
any  Hennepin  county  jury,  and  his  home  razed  to  the 
ground  or  burned. 

Eliza  "Winston  was  sent  by  underground  railroad  to 
Canada,  because  Minnesota,  in  the  year  of  grace,  1860, 
could  not  or  would  not  defend  the  freedom  of  one  de 
clared  free  by  decision  of  her  own  courts. 

When  such  events  were  actual  facts  in  '60,  near  the 
center  of  the  State,  under  a  Eepublican  administration, 
what  was  the  condition  of  public  sentiment  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  territory  in  '57,  when  there 
was  scarce  a  pretense  of  law  or  order,  and  the  South 
ern  democracy  held  absolute  sway?  I  soon  under 
stood  the  situation;  had  known  for  years  that  the 
Southern  threats,  which  Northern  men  laughed  at  as 
"  tin  kettle  thunder,"  were  the  desperate  utterances  of 
lawless  men,  in  firm  alliance  with  the  "  Hierarchy  of 

Home  for  the  overthrow  of  this  .Republic. 
12 


ITS  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

ANOTHER    YISITER. 

GEORGE  BROTT  was  proprietor  of  lower  St.  Cloud 
and  had  started  a  paper,  The  Advertiser,  to  invite 
immigration.  There  were  two  practical  printers  in 
town,  both  proper-owners,  both  interested  in  its 
growth,  and  when  the  resources  of  The  Advertiser 
had  been  consumed  and  they  had  had  union  rates  for 
work  done  on  it,  they  fell  back  on  their  dignity  and 
did  nothing.  They  had  enlisted  in  the  wrong  army, 
did  not  belong  witli  this  band  of  pioneers,  making  its 
way  against  savage  beasts  and  men.  They  were 
soldiers  of  a  union  whose  interests  were  all  opposed 
to  those  of  St.  Cloud,  so  they  were  looking  on,  waiting 
to  see  if  the  great  need  of  a  paper  would  not  compel 
their  neighbors  to  pay  tribute  to  their  union. 

Mr.  Brott  asked  me  if  I  would  take  charge  of  a 
paper  and  take  town  lots  for  a  salary.  I  told  him  I 
was  an  abolitionist.  He  laughed,  and  said:  . 

"A  lady  has  a  right  to  be  of  whatever  politics  she 
pleases,"  and  went  on  to  say,  that  if  I  could  recom 
mend  Minnesota  to  emigrants,  and  St.  Cloud  as  a 
town  site,  he  cared  nothing  for  my  opinions  on  other 
points.  He  thought  we  might  unite  all  the  town  pro 
prietors,  and  so  raise  money  to  pay  the  printers,  so  I 
wrote  to  each  one,  asking  his  support  to  the  St.  Cloud 
Visiter,  as  an  advertising  medium.  All,  save  Gen. 
Lowrie,  were  prompt  in  making  favorable  response; 
but  from  him  I  had  not  heard,  when  there  had  been 
three  issues  of  the  paper.  Mr.  Brott  was  in  the  office, 
and  I  said: 


ANOTHER  VISITEK.  179 

"  There  is  one  thing  more.  I  feel  that  some  day  I 
will  attack  Gen.  Lowrie,  who  is  your  friend.  He  will 
set  Shepley  on  me;  I  will  make  short  work  of  him. 
Then  we  will  have  a  general  melee,  and  I  will  clear 
out  that  clique.  Shepley  is  your  lawyer,  and  I  do  not 
want  to  use  your  press  in  that  way  without  your  con 
sent." 

While  I  spoke,  his  jaw  dropped  and  he  sat  staring 
at  me  in  literal  open-mouthed  wonder,  then  threw 
back  his  head,  laughed  heartily  and  said : 

"  Oh,  go  ahead !  I  bake  no  bread  in  any  of  their 
ovens!" 

Very  soon  I  had  a  letter  from  Gen.  Lowrie,  saying: 

"  I  myself  will  give  the  St.  Cloud  Visiter  a  support 
second  to  that  of  no  paper  in  the  territory,  if  it  will 
support  Buchanan's  administration.  Otherwise  I  can 
do  nothing." 

I  had  not  finished  reading,  when  the  thought  came: 
"  !N"ow  Lhave  you."  Yet  still  I  knew  it  looked  like,  ah, 
very  liKe  a  man  catching  a  whale  with  a  fish  hook 
secured  to  his  own  person,  when  there  were  a  hundred 
chances  to  one  that  the  whale  had  caught  him.  I  re 
plied  that  the  St.  Cloud  Visiter  would  support  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration,  since  it  could  not  live  with 
out  Gen.  Lowrie's  assistance,  and  such  was  his  ulti 
matum. 

On  the  second  day  after  that  contract  was  made, 
brother  Harry  came,  all  trembling  with  rage,  and  said: 

"  Lowrie  is  telling  all  over  town  that  he  has  bought 
you,  and  that  the  Visiter  is  to  support  Buchanan!" 

"  It  is  true,"  was  the  astounding  answer,  when  he 
said  bad  words,  rushed  from  the  room  and  slammed  the 
door. 


180  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

Then  followed  ten  days,  the  only  ones  since  he  be 
came  my  brother  when  he  would  not  call  me  "Sis." 
Elizabeth  said: 

"  I  would  have  seen  Lowrie  and  his  money  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  first!  What  would  mother  say?" 

The  next  issue  of  the  Visiter  made  no  allusion  to  its 
change  of  base,  and  there  was  plenty  of  time  to  dis 
cuss  the  question.  Those  who  knew  my  record  re 
fused  to  believe  I  had  sold  out,  and  took  bets  on  it. 
However,  the  next  number  contained  an  editorial 
which  relieved  the  minds  of  friends,  but  which  created 
the  gravest  apprehension.  It  stated  that  the  Visiter 
would,  in  future,  support  Buchanan's  administration, 
and  went  on  to  state  the  objects  of  that  administra 
tion  as  being  the  entire  subversion  of  Freedom  and 
the  planting  of  Slavery  in  every  State  and  Territory, 
so  that  Toombs  could  realize  his  boast,  and  call  the 
roll  of  his  slaves  at  the  foot  of  Bunker  Hill.  It  re 
minded  its  readers  that  John  Randolph  had  said  in 
the  United  States  Senate  when  speaking  to  Northern 
men: 

"  We  have  driven  you  to  the  wall,  and  will  drive 
you  there  again,  and  next  time  we  will  keep  you  there 
and  nail  you  to  the  counter  like  base  money." 

Mr.  Buchanan,  a  Northern  man,  had  fulfilled  the 
prediction.  Henry  Clay  had  said  that  Northern 
workingmen  were  "  mudsills,  greasy  mechanics  and 
small-fisted  farmers."  These  mudsills  had  been  talk 
ing  of  voting  themselves  farms;  but  it  would  be  much 
more  appropriate  if  they  would  vote  themselves  mas 
ters.  Southern  laborers  were  blessed  with  kind  mas 
ters,  and  Mr.  Buchanan  and  the  St.  Cloud  Visiter 


BOEDER  RUFFIANISM.  181 

were  most  anxious  that  Northern  laborers  should  be 
equally  well  provided  for. 

When  the  paper  was  read,  there  was  a  cry  of  "  Sold ! 
Sold!  Lowrie  had  sold  himself  instead  of  buying  the 
Visiter"  At  first  there  was  a  laugh,  then  a  dead 
stillness  of  dread,  and  men  looked  at  me  as  one  doomed. 


CHAPTEE   XXXVIII. 

BOEDER   RUFFIANISM. 

IN  Lowrie's  first  ebulition  of  wrath,  he  vowed  ven 
geance,  but  an  intimate  friend  of  his,  who  had  been  a 
Democrat  in  Pittsburg,  begged  him  to  do  nothing  and 
said: 

"  Let  her  alone,  for  God's  sake !  Let  her  alone,  or 
she  will  kill  you.  I  know  her,  and  you  do  not.  She 
has  killed  every  man  she  ever  touched.  Let  her 
alone!" 

But  Lowrie  knew  it  was  too  late  for  letting  alone, 
and  sent  me  a  verbal  message,  by  one  he  knew  I  would 
believe,  that  I  must  stop  or  the  consequences  would 
be  fatal.  Stopping  was  no  part  of  my  plan,  and  so  I 
told  his  messenger. 

The  second  number  of  Buchanan's  organ  explained 
how  it  was  that  I  became  a  supporter  of  a  policy  I  had 
so  long  opposed.  Gen.  Lowrie  owned  Northern  Min 
nesota,  land  and  inhabitants,  bought  folks  up  as  fast 
as  they  came  to  it,  and  had  bought  me.  He  was  go 
ing  to  support  the  Visiter  in  great  power  and  glory,  if 
it  gave  satisfaction  as  a  democratic  organ.  I  would 
work  hard  for  the  money,  and  it  would  be  odd  if  any 


182  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

one  gave  Mr.  Buchanan  a  more  enthusiastic  support 
than  I.  Indeed,  I  was  his  only  honest  supporter.  All 
the  others  pretended  he  was  going  to  do  something 
quite  foreign  to  his  purpose,  while  I  was  in  his  confi 
dence.  The  one  sole  object  of  his  administration  was 
the  perpetuation  and  spread  of  slavery,  and  this  object 
the  Visiter  would  support  with  the  best  arguments  in 
its  power. 

This  was  vitriol  dressing  on  a  raw  wound,  and  the 
suppression  of  the  Visiter  was  expected  by  Judge 
Lynch.  Brave  men  held  their  breath  to  see  me  beard 
the  lion  in  his  den,  not  knowing  my  armor  as  I  did. 

Then  came  an  announcement  with  a  great  flourish 
of  trumpets  of  a  lecture  on  u  Woman,"  by  the  Hon. 
Shepley,  the  great  legal  light  and  democratic  orator  of 
Minnesota.  The  lecture  was  delivered  in  due  time  to 
a  densely  packed  house,  and  was  as  insulting  as  pos 
sible.  The  lecture  divided  women  into  four  classes- 
coquettes,  flirts,  totally  depraved,  and  strong-minded. 
He  painted  each  class  and  found  some  redeeming 
trait  in  all  save  the  last. 

The  speaker  might  as  well  have  named  me  as  the 
object  of  his  attack,  and  his  charges  thus  publicly  made 
were  not  to  be  misunderstood.  At  every  point  there 
were  rounds  and  shouts  of  applause  by  clacquers,  and 
brother  Harry  once  rose  in  a  towering  rage,  but  I 
dragged  him  down  and  begged  him  to  keep  quiet. 

In  my  review  of  the  lecture,  I  praised  it,  commend 
ed  its  eloquence  and  points,  but  suggested  that  the 
learned  gentleman  had  not  included  all  women  in  his 
classification.  For  instance,  he  had  left  out  the  fron 
tier  belle  who  sat  up  all  night  playing  cards  with  gen- 


BOEDER  RUFFIANISM.  183 

tlemen ;  could  beat  any  man  at  a  game  of  poker,  and 
laugh  loud  enough  to  be  heard  above  the  roaring  of  a 
river.  In  this  I  struck  at  gambling  as  a  social  amuse 
ment,  which  was  then  rapidly  coming  into  fashion  in 
our  little  city,  and  which  to  me  was  new  and  alarming. 
Mr.  Shepley  pretended  to  think  that  the  picture 
resembled  his  wife,  and  this  idea  was  seized  upon  as 
drowning  men  catch  at  straws.  Behind  this  they 
sought  to  conceal  the  whole  significance  of  the  quar 
rel.  Gen.  Lowrie  cared  not  for  my  attacks  on  him 
self.  Oh,  no,  indeed!  He  was  suddenly  seized  by  a 
fit  of  chivalry,  and  would  defend  to  the  death  a  lady 
whom  he  had  never  seen. 

An  effort  was  made  to  dispose  of  me  by  mob,  as  a 
means  of  clearing  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  city. 
It  was  being  discussed  in  a  grocery  while  "  Tom  "  Al- 
den  lay  on  the  counter.  He  rose,  brought  clown  his 
big  fist,  and  with  a  preface  of  oaths,  said: 

"  E"ow,  boys,  I  tell  you  what  it  is.  We're  Demo 
crats.  This  is  a  fight  between  her  and  Lowrie,  and 
we're  going  to  see  fair  play.  If  she  licks  him,  let 
him  take  it.  No  woman  is  going  to  be  mobbed  in 
this  city!  So  there!" 

Gen.  Lowrie  had  an  uncle  who  lived  with  him,  a 
very  eccentric,  single-minded  man,  who  was  greatly 
distressed  about  the  affair,  and  who  became  a  messen 
ger  bent  on  making  peace.  He  begged  me  to  desist 
for  Lowrie's  sake,  that  I  might  not  drive  him  to  cover 
himself  with  shame,  and  bring  lasting  regret.  He 
insisted  that  I  knew  nothing  of  the  dangers  which 
environed  me;  I  would  be  secretly  murdered,  with 
personal  indignities;  would  be  tied  to  a  log  and  set 


184  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

afloat  on  the  Mississippi.  I  had  no  wish  to  court 
danger — shrank  from  the  thought  of  brute  force;  but 
if  I  let  this  man  escape,  his  power,  now  tottering, 
would  be  re-established;  slavery  triumphant  in  the 
great  JSTorthwest;  Minnesota  confirmed  a  democratic 
strong-hold,  sending  delegates  of  dough-faces  to  Con 
gress  to  aid  in  the  great  conspiracy  against  the  na 
tion's  life.  So  I  told  the  messenger  that  I  would 
continue  to  support  Buchanan's  administration,  that 
I  would  pile  my  support  upon  it  until  it  broke  down 
under  the  weight  and  sunk  into  everlasting  infamy. 

The  night  after  I  had  sent  this,  as  my  final  answer 
to  the  offer  of  leniency,  the  Visiter  was  visited  by 
three  men  in  the  "wee  sma' hours,  an  ent  the  twal," 
the  press  broken,  some  of  the  type  thrown  into  the 
river,  some  scattered  on  the  road,  and  this  note  left  on 
the  table: 

"  If  you  ever  again  attempt  to  publish  a  paper  in  St. 
Cloud,  you  yourself  will  be  as  summarily  dealt  with 
as  your  office  has  been.  VIGILANCE." 

The  morning  brought  intense  excitement  and  the 
hush  of  a  great  fear.  Men  walked  down  to  the  bank 
of  the  great  Mississippi,  looked  at  the  little  wrecked 
office  standing  amid  the  old  primeval  forest,  as  if  it 
were  a  great  battle-ground,  and  the  poor  little  type 
were  the  bodies  of  the  valiant  dead.  They  only  spoke 
in  whispers,  and  stood  as  if  in  expectation  of  some 
great  event,  until  Judge  Gregory  arrived,  and  said, 
calmly: 

"  Gentlemen,  this  is  an  outrage  which  must  be  re 
sented.  The  freedom  of  the  press  must  be  established 
if  we  do  not  want  our  city  to  become  the  center  of  a 


SPEAK  IN  PUBLIC.  185 

gang  of  rowdies  who  will  drive  all  decent  people  away 
and  cut  off  immigration.  I  move  that  we  call  a  piib- 
lic  meeting  at  the  Stearns  House  this  evening,  to  ex 
press  the  sentiments  of  the  people  at  St.  Cloud." 

This  motion  was  carried  unanimously,  but  very 
quietly,  and  I  said: 

"  Gentlemen,  I  will  attend  that  meeting  and  give  a 
history  of  this  affair." 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

SPEAK   IN   PUBLIC. 

AT  length  the  time  had  come  when  I  could  no  longer 
skulk  behind  a  printing  press.  That  bulwark  had 
been  torn  down,  and  now  1  must  literally  open  my 
mouth  for  the  dumb,  or  be  one  of  those  dogs  spoken  of 
in  Scripture  who  would  not  bark.  The  resolve  to 
speak  at  that  meeting  had  come  in  an  instant  as  a  com 
mand  not  to  be  questioned,  and  I  began  to  prepare. 
James  McKelvey,  a  lawyer,  and  nephew  of  my  hus 
band,  drew  my  will  and  I  executed  it,  settled  my  busi 
ness  and  wrote  a  statement  of  the  Visiter  trouble  that 
it  might  live  if  I  ceased  to  do  so,  then  went  to  bed, 
sent  for  Miles  Brown  to  come  to  my  room,  and  saw  him 
alone. 

He  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  who  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  dead  shot,  and  had  a  pair  of  fine  revolvers.  He 
pledged  himself  solemnly  to  go  with  me  and  keep  near 
me,  and  shoot  me  square  through  the  brain,  if  there 
was  no  other  way  of  preventing  me  falling  alive  into 
the  hands  of  the  mob.  My  mind  was  then  at  ease,  and 


186  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

I  slept  until  my  mail  was  brought.  In  it  was  a  letter 
from  William  M.  Shinn,  saying  that  without  his 
knowledge,  my  husband  had  succeeded  in  having  my 
one-third  interest  in  the  Swissvale  estate  sold  at  sher 
iff's  sale,  and  had  become  the  purchaser.  Mr.  Shinn 
added  his  opinion  that  the  sale  was  fraudulent,  and 
proposed  entering  suit  to  have  it  set  aside;  but  I  could 
attend  to  no  suit  and  lost  all  hope  of  saving  anything 
from  my  separate  estate.  Surely  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
lay  heavily  upon  me  that  day,  but  I  never  doubted 
that  it  was  His  hand.  The  Good  Shepherd  would 
lead  me  and  feed  me  and  I  should  know  no  want. 

"When  it  was  time  to  go  to  the  meeting,  I  was 
dressed  by  other  hands  than  my  own.  I  knew  Harry 
and  my  brother-in-law,  Henry  Swisshelm,  had  organ 
ized  for  defense,  and  asked  no  questions,  but  went  with 
them.  Elizabeth  carried  her  camphor  bottle  as  coolly 
as  if  mobs  and  public  meetings  were  things  of  every 
day  life,  while  Mrs.  Hyke,  a  New  England  woman,  held 
my  arm,  saying: 

"  We  '11  have  a  nice  time  in  the  river  together,  for  I 
am  going  in  with  you.  They  can't  separate  us." 

As  we  approached  the  Stearns  House,  the  crowd 
thickened  and  pressed  upon  us.  Harry  stopped  and 
said: 

"  Gentlemen,  stand  back,  if  you  please!" 

The  guard  closed  around  me,  every  man  with  his 
hand  on  his  revolver.  There  were  oaths  and  growls, 
but  the  mob  gave  way,  and  made  no  further  opposi 
tion  to  our  entrance. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Thomas  Stearns, 
the  owner  of  the  house  and  for  whom  the  county  had 


SPEAK  IN  PUBLIC.  187 

been  named,  who  with  his  brave  wife  had  made  every 
possible  arrangement  for  the  meeting.  The  large  par 
lors  were  packed  with  women,  and  every  other  foot  of 
space  downstairs  and  even  up,  were  filled  with  men, 
while  around  the  house  was  a  crowd.  It  was  a  won 
der  where  all  the  people  could  have  come  from.  A 
rostrum  had  been  erected  at  the  end  of  the  parlor  next 
the  hall,  but  I  had  no  sooner  taken  it  than  there  was 
an  omnious  murmur  outside,  and  it  was  discovered 
that  my  head  made  a  tempting  target  for  a  shot 
through  the  front  door,  so  the  rostrum  was  moved  out 
of  range. 

O 

There  was  not  much  excitement  until  I  named  Gen. 
Lowrie  and  two  other  men  as  the  persons  who  had  de- 
destroyed  the  Visiter  office.  Then  there  was  a  perfect 
howl  of  oaths  and  cat-calls.  Gen.  Lowrie  was  on  the 
ground  himself,  leading  his  forces  outside.  A  rush 
was  made,  stones  hurled  against  the  house,  pistols 
fired,  and  every  woman  sprang  to  her  feet,  but  it  was 
to  hear  and  see,  not  shriek.  Harry  held  the  door- way 
into  the  hall;  Henry  that  into  the  dining  room.  Brown 
had  joined  Harry,  and  I  said  in  a  low,  concentrated 
voice : 

"Brown." 

He  turned  and  pressed  up  to  the  rostrum. 

" Don't  fail  me!     Don't  leave  me!     Remember!" 

"  I  remember  !  Don't  be  afraid  !  I'll  do  it !  But 
I'm  going  to  do  some  other  shooting  first." 

"Save  two  bullets  for  me!  "  I  plead,  "and  shoot  so 
that  I  can  see  you." 

"  I  will,  I  will,"  but  all  the  time  he  was  looking  to 
the  door;  Mrs.  Hyke  was  clinging  to  me  sobbing: 

"We'll  go  together;  no  one  can  part  us." 


188  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  mob  were  pressed  back  and  comparative  quiet 
restored,  and  when  I  finished  the  reading  of  my  ad 
dress  I  began  to  extemporize.  "What  I  said  seemed 
to  be  the  right  words  at  the  right  time.  A  hushed 
attention  fell  upon  the  audience,  inside  and  out.  Then 
there  was  applause  inside,  which  called  forth  howls 
from  the  outside,  and  when  I  stepped  from  the  plat 
form,  I  was  overwhelmed  with  congratulations,  and 
more  astonished  than  any  one,  to  learn  that  I  could 
speak  in  public. 

T.  H.  Barrett,  a  young  civil  engineer,  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  resolutions,  and  brought  in  a  set 
which  thrilled  the  audience.  They  were  a  most  in 
dignant  denunciation  of  the  destruction  of  the  office, 
an  enthusiastic  endorsement  of  the  course  of  the  Vis- 
iter,  and  a  determination  to  re-establish  it,  under  the 
sole  control  of  its  editor.  They  were  passed  singly 
by  acclamation  until  the  last,  when  I  protested  that 
they  should  take  time  to  think — should  consider  if  it 
were  not  better  to  get  another  editor.  There  could  be 
no  peace  with  me  in  the  editorial  chair,  for  I  was  an 
abolitionist  and  would  fight  slavery  and  woman-whip- 
pers  to  the  death,  and  after  it.  There  was  a  universal 
response  of  "Good!  Good!  give  it  to  'em,  and  we'll 
stand  by  you." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  final  triumph  of  free 
speech,  but  the  end  was  yet  in  the  dim  distance,  and 
this  I  knew  then  as  well  as  afterwards.  T.  II.  Barrett, 
who  carried  that  meeting,  is  the  man  who  fought  the  last 
battle  of  the  Eebellion  at  the  head  of  his  negro  troops 
away  down  in  Texas,  ten  days  after  Lee's  surrender, 
and  before  that  news  had  reached  him,  Brown  was 


A  FAMOUS  VICTORY.  189 

charged  with,  cowardice,  in  having  kept  back  among 
the  women,  and  I  had  to  explain  on  his  account. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

A   FAMOUS   VICTORY. 

THE  day  after  the  Stearns  House  meeting,  I  was 
thought  to  be  dying.  All  that  medical  skill  and  lov 
ing  hands  could  do  was  done  to  draw  me  from  the 
dark  valley  into  which  I  seemed  to  have  passed;  while 
those  men  who  had  planted  themselves  and  their  rifles 
between  me  and  death  by  violence,  came  on  tip-toe  to 
know  if  I  yet  lived.  When  I  was  able  to  be  out  it  was 
not  thought  safe  for  me  to  do  so — not  even  to  cross  the 
street  and  sit  on  the  high  green  bank  which  overlooked 
the  river.  Harry  was  constantly  armed  and  on  guard, 
and  a  pistol  shot  from  his  house,  night  or  day,  would 
have  brought  a  score  of  armed  men  in  a  very  short  time. 

A  printing  company  had  been  formed  to  re-establish 
the  Visitor,  In  it  were  forty  good  men  and  true,  and 
they  sent  an  agent  to  Chicago  to  buy  press  and  type. 
The  St.  Cloud  Visiter  was  to  begin  a  new  life  as  the 
mouth-piece  of  the  Republican  party,  and  I  was  no 
longer  a  scout,  conducting  a  war  on  the  only  rational 
plan  of  Indian  warfare.  I  begged  my  friends  to  stand 
aside  and  leave  Lowrie  and  me  to  settle  the  trouble, 
saying  to  them: 

"  I  cannot  fight  behind  ramparts  of  friends.  I  must 
take  the  risks  myself,  must  have  an  open  field.  Protect 
me  from  brute  force  and  give  me  moral  aid,  but  stand 
aside." 


190  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

But  they  were  full  of  enthusiasm,  and  would  bear 
the  brunt  of  battle.  There  were  open  threats  of  the 
destruction  of  the  new  press,  and  it  was  no  time  to 
quit  the  field.  Of  the  first  number  of  the  resurrected 
Visiter,  the  St.  Cloud  Printing  Co.  was  publisher,  and 
I  sole  editor.  I  prepared  the  contents  very  carefully, 
that  they  might  not  give  unnecessary  offense,  dropped 
the  role  of  supporting  Buchanan,  and  tried  to  make  a 
strong  Republican  paper  of  the  abolition  type,  and  in 
the  leader  gave  a  history  of  the  destruction  of  my  office, 

The  paper  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  publishers, 
who  had  not  thought  I  could  be  so  calm;  but  Lowrie 
threatened  a  libel  suit  for  my  history  of  that  outrage, 
and  I  said  to  the  printing  company : 

"  You  must  get  out  of  iny  way  or  I  will  withdraw." 

At  once  they  gave  me  a  bill  of  sale  for  the  press  and 
material,  and  of  the  second  number  I  was  sole  editor 
and  proprietor,  but  it  was  too  late.  The  libel  suit  was 
brought,  damages  laid  at  $10,000,  and  every  lawyer  in 
that  upper  country  retained  for  the  prosecution. 

This  was  in  the  spring  of  '58.  The  two  years  pre 
vious  the  country  had  been  devastated  by  grasshop 
pers,  and  no  green  thing  had  escaped.  There  was  no 
old  grain,  the  mass  of  people  had  been  speculating  in 
town  lots,  and  such  had  been  the  demand  for  city  char 
ters,  that  a  wag  moved  in  legislature  to  reserve  one- 
tenth  of  the  land  of  Minnesota  for  agricultural  pur 
poses.  The  territorial  had  just  been  exchanged  for  a 
state  government,  which  was  not  yet  in  working  order. 
The  capital  of  every  man  in  the  printing  company 
was  buried  in  corner  lots,  or  lots  which  were  not  on  a 
corner.  The  wolves  and  bears  cared  nothing  for  sur- 


A  FAMOUS  VICTORY.  191 

vejor's  stakes,  and  held  possession  of  most  of  the 
cities,  howling  defiance  at  the  march  of  civilization. 
The  troops  were  still  in  Kansas  establishing  slavery, 
and  we  lived  in  a  constant  state  of  alarm.  The  men 
were  organized  for  defense  against  Indians,  and  must 
do  picket  duty.  All  the  money  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  Citizens  had  everything  to  buy  and  noth 
ing  to  buy  it  with.  Provisions  were  brought  up  from 
St.  Paul  by  wagon,  except  when  a  boat  could  come 
from  St.  Anthony.  Those  men  of  the  company  who 
were  especially  marked,  were  men  of  families,  and  it 
is  hard  to  starve  children  for  the  freedom  of  the  press. 
The  nearest  court  was  St.  Anthony.  Any  defense  of 
that  suit  must  be  ruinous  to  those  men,  and  I  advised 
them  to  compromise. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  meet  six  lawyers, 
and  were  in  despair  when  they  learned  the  ultimatum 
of  the  great  Dictator.  With  the  terms  demanded, 
they  had  no  inclination  to  comply,  but  sent  J.  Fow 
ler  to  riie  with  the  contract  they  were  required  to 
sign. 

This  bound  the  company  in  a  bond  of  $10,000  act 
ual  payment,  that  the  St.  Cloud  Visiter  should  pub 
lish  in  its  columns  a  card  from  Mr.  Shepley,  of  which 
a  copy  was  appended,  and  which  stated  that  the  de 
struction  of  the  office  was  not  for  any  political  cause, 
but  was  solely  on  account  of  an  attack  made  by  its 
editor  on  the  reputation  of  a  lady.  Also,  that  said 
Visiter  should  never  again  discuss  or  refer  to  the  de 
struction  of  its  office. 

Fowler  burned  with  indignation,  and  was  much 
surprised  when  I  returned  the  paper,  saying  that  I 


192  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

would  comply  with  these  demands.  He  protested  that 
I  should  not — that  they  had  set  out  to  defend  the  free 
dom  of  the  press. 

"  Which  you  cannot  do,"  I  remarked.  "  You  sign 
that  paper  just  as  you  would  hand  your  money  to  a 
robber  who  held  a  pistol  to  your  head  and  demanded 
it.  There  is  a  point  at  which  the  bravest  must  yield, 
where  resistance  is  madness,  and  you  have  reached 
this  point.  The  press  is  mine,  leave  its  freedom  to 
me.  Defend  me  from  brute  force  and  do  your  duty 
to  your  families." 

He  returned  to  the  consultation  room,  where  every 
one  was  surprised  at  my  compliance.  They  had  all 
given  me  credit  for  more  pluck,  but  since  I  surren 
dered,  the  case  was  lost.  The  contract  was  signed, 
the  bond  executed,  and  everything  made  tight  and  fast 
as  law  could  make  it.  The  friends  of  free  press  were 
indignant,  but  bided  their  time.  Stephen  Miller,  a 
nephew  of  my  mother-in-law,  and  afterwards  governor 
of  Minnesota,  was  on  a  visit  to  Harrisburg  during  all 
this  trouble,  and  when  he  returned,  he  flew  into  a 
towering  rage  over  what  he  termed  the  cowardly  back 
down  of  the  printing  company,  and  published  a  card 
in  the  St.  Paul  papers,  washing  his  hands  of  it. 

But  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils  and  glory,  and 
now  they  made  much  of  them.  Ladies  got  out  their 
silks,  their  jewels  and  their  laces.  There  were  sounds 
of  revelry  by  night,  where  fair  women  and  gallant 
men  drew  around  the  social  board,  on  which  sparkled 
the  wine-cup  and  glimmered  the  yellow  gold,  to  be 
taken  up  by  the  winner.  Champagne  was  drunk  in 
honor  of  the  famous  victory,  hands  were  shaken  over 


A  FAMOUS  VICTORY.  193 

it,  stray  sheep  were  brought  back  into  the  true  Dem 
ocratic  fold,  and  late  opinions  about  presses  and  types 
were  forgotten. 

Though,  among  all  the  rejoicings,  the  Bar  had  the 
best  of  it.  For  once  its  members  had  not  been  like 
the  blades  of  a  pair  of  scissors;  had  not  even  seemed 
to  cut  each  other,  while  only  cutting  that  which  came 
between.  For  once  its  members  were  a  band  of  broth 
ers,  concentrated  into  one  sharp,  keen  dagger,  with 
which  they  had  stabbed  Freedom  to  the  heart.  That 
triumphant  Bar  stroked  its  bearded  chin,  and  parted 
its  silky  mustache;  hein'd  its  wisest  hem;  haw'd  its 
most  impressive  haw. 

"  If  Gen.  Lowrie  had  ah,  but  ah,  taken  legal  advice 
ah,  in  the  first  instance  ah,  all  would  have  been  well  ah! " 

They  were  the  generals  who  had  won  this  famous 
victory,  and  wore  their  laurels  with  a  jaunty  air,  while 
a  learned  and  distinguished  divine  from  the  center  of 
the  State,  in  a  sermon,  congratulated  the  Lord  on  hav 
ing  succeeded  in  "restoring  peace  to  this  community, 
lately  torn  by  dissensions," — and  all  was  quiet  on  the 
Mississippi. 

On  its  bank  sat  poor  little  I,  looking  out  on  its  sol 
emn  march  to  the  sea,  thinking  of  Minnesota;  send 
ing  a  wail  upon  its  bosom  to  meet  and  mingle  with 
that  borne  by  the  Missouri  from  Kansas;  thinking  of 
a  sad-faced  slave,  who  landed  with  her  babe  in  her 
arms  here,  just  in  front  of  my  unfinished  loft,  per 
formed  the  labor  of  a  slave  in  this  free  Northern  land, 
and  embarked  from  this  same  landing  to  go  to  a  Ten 
nessee  auction  block,  nobody  saying  to  the  master, 
"Why  dove  this?" 
13 


194  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

Against  the  power  which  thus  trampled  constitu 
tional  guarantees,  congressional  enactments  and  State 
rights  in  the  dust,  I  seemed  to  stand  alone,  with  my 
hands  tied — stood  in  a  body  weighing  just  one  hun 
dred  pounds,  and  kept  in  it  by  the  most  assiduous 
care.  I  was  learning  to  set  type,  and  as  I  picked  the 
bits  of  lead  from  the  labeled  boxes,  there  ran  the  old 
tune  of  St.  Thomas,  carrying  through  my  brain  these 
words: 

"  Yea,  though  I  walk  in  death's  dark  vale, 
Yet  will  I  fear  none  ill." 

Why  did  the  heathen  rage  and  kings  vex  them 
selves?  God,  even  our  God,  should  dash  them  together 
like  potsherds.  What  an  uneven  fight  it  was — God 
and  I  against  that  little  clique — against  a  world  ! 

I  rented  the  office  to  the  boys,  who  at  once  gave  me 
notice  that  I  was  no  longer  wanted  in  it.  They  issued 
a,  half-sheet  Visiter,  with  "the  Devil"  as  editor  and 
proprietor.  His  salutatory  informed  his  readers,  that 
he  was  in  full  possession  and  was  going  to  have  a  good 
time;  had  taught  the  Visiter  to  lie,  and  was  going  to 
tunnel  the  Mississippi.  Those  were  bright  boys,  and 
they  had  a  jolly  week.  Mr.  Shepley's  card  appeared, 
as  per  agreement,  and  thus  far  the  terms  of  release 
for  the  printing  company  complied  with,  and  the  con 
tract  with  the  Dictator  filled.  But  what  next?  Had 
I  actually  given  up  the  publication?  Of  course  I  had. 
Its  finances  were  desperate,  and  what  else  could  I  do? 
What  motive  could  I  have  for  attempting  to  go  on 
with  it?  Oh,  what  a  famous  victory.  The  next  pub 
lication  day  passed  and  no  Visiter.  There  was  a  dress 


A  FAMOUS  VICTORY.  195 

parade'of  triumphant  troops,  and  that  most  famous 
victory  was  bearing  fruit. 

Next  day  the  St.  Cloud  Democrat  made  its  ap 
pearance,  and  I  was  sole  editor  and  proprietor.  Into 
the  first  editorial  column  I  copied  verbatim,  with  a 
prominent  heading,  the  article  from  the  Visiter  on 
which  the  libel  suit  was  founded,  and  gave  notice  that 
I  alone  was  pecuniarily  responsible  for  all  the  injury 
that  could  possibly  be  done  to  the  characters  of  all  the 
men  who  might  feel  themselves  aggrieved  thereby. 
Of  the  late  Visiter  I  had  an  obituary;  gave  a  short 
sketch  of  its  stormy  life;  how  it  was  insulted,  over 
borne,  enslaved;  that  it  could  not  live  a  slave,  and 
died  in  its  new  chains. 

It  seems  strange  that  those  lawyers  should  have 
been  so  stupid,  or  should  Jhave  accredited  me  with  such 
amazing  stupidity  when  they  drew  up  that  bond;  but 
so  it  was,  and  the  tables  were  completely  turned.  To 
sue  me  for  libel  was  folly,  for  in  St.  Paul  or  St.  An 
thony  I  should  have  had  the  gratuitous  services  of  the 
best  legal  talent  in  the  state,  and  they  and  their  case 
would  have  been  ground  into  very  small  and  dirty 
dust.  No  famous  victory  was  ever  before  turned  into 
a  more  total  rout  by  a  more  simple  ambush,  and  by 
it  I  won  the  clear  field  necessary  to  the  continuance 
of  my  work. 

I  still  had  protection  from  physical  violence,  but  had 
no  fear  of  legal  molestation,  and  after  the  next  fall 
election,  border  ruffianism  fell  into  such  disrepute  in 
St.  Cloud  that  loaded  guns  seemed  no  longer  neces 
sary  to  sustain  the  freedom  of  the  press. 


196  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

CHAPTER   XLI. 

STATE   AND   NATIONAL   POLITICS. 

WHEN  The  St.  Cloud  Democrat  began  its  career 
as  the  organ  of  the  Republican  party  in  Northern  Min 
nesota,  the  central  and  southern  portions  of  the  S.ate 
were  fairly  supplied  with  republican  papers,  the  con 
ductors  all  being  more  or  less  skillful  in  the  art  of 
plowing  and  sowing  the  political  field;  but  with  no 
very  bright  prospect  of  harvesting  a  victory.  Under 
the  Lowrie  dictatorship  of  the  North,  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  the  success  of  a  Republican  could  have  been 
made  possible,  any  more  than  giving  the  electoral  vote 
of  Southern  Republican  States  to  the  Republican  can 
didate  in  1880. 

To  overthrow  that  dictatorship  was  the  work  I  had 
volunteered  to  do,  and  in  doing  it,  my  plan  was  to 
"  plow  deep,"  subsoil  to  the  beam.  Preachers  held 
men  accountable  to  God  for  their  Sunday  services,  but 
it  was  my  aim  to  urge  the  divine  claim  to  obedience, 
all  the  rest  of  the  week.  I  held  that  election  day  was 
of  all  others,  the  Lord's  day.  He  instituted  the  first 
republic.  All  the  training  which  Moses  gave  the  Jews 
was  to  fit  them  for  self-government,  and  at  his  death 
the  choice  of  their  rulers  was  left  with  them  and  they 
were  commanded  to 

"Choose  men,  fearing  God  and  hating  coveteous- 
ness,  and  set  them  to  rule  over  you." 

For  no  creed,  no  form  of  worship,  no  act  of  his  life, 
is  a  man  more  directly  responsible  to  God,  than  for 
casting  his  vote  or  the  non-fulfillment  of  that  duty. 


STATE  AND  NATIONAL  POLITICS.  197 

"When  the  nominations  were  made  for  the  second 
State  election  in  1859,  Gen.  Lowrie  had  lost  ground  so 
fast  that  he  needed  the  indorsement  of  his  party. 
This  was  given  in  his  nomination  for  Lieut.  Governor. 
The  Republicans  nominated  Ignatius  Donnelly,  a  fiery 
young  orator,  who  took  the  stump,  and  was  not  de 
terred  by  any  super-refinement  from  making  the  most 
of  his  opponent's  reputation  as  the  stealthy  destroyer 
of  a  printing  office,  because  he  had  made  a  bad  bar 
gain  in  buying  its  editor.  He  and  the  party  which 
had  made  his  methods  its  own  by  nominating  him, 
were  held  up  to  the  most  unmerciful  ridicule.  The  can 
vass  seemed  to  turn  on  the  indorsement  or  repudiation 
of  border-ruffianism,  press-breaking,  woman-mobbing. 
My  'personnel  had  then  become  familiar  to  the  people 
of  the  State,  and  the  large  man  who  instituted  a  mob 
to  suppess  a  woman  of  my  size,  and  then  failed,  was 
not  a  suitable  leader  for  American  men,  even  if  they 
were  Democrats. 

The  death-knell  of  Democratic  rule  in  Minnesota 
was  rung  in  that  election.  The  whole  Republican 
State  ticket  was  elected,  with  Gov.  Ramsey  at  its  head, 
and  he  was  the  first  Governor  to  tender  troops  to 
President  Lincoln  for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion. 
The  result  was  gratifying,  although  our  own  county, 
Stearns,  was  overwhelmingly  Democratic,  and  must 
remain  so,  since  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
Catholics. 

However,  the  election  of  the  State  ticket  was  largely 
due  to  the  personal  popularity  of  Gov.  Ramsey,  and 
this  could  not  be  depended  upon  for  a  lasting  arrange 
ment,  so  I  spent  the  winter  following  lecturing  through 


198  HALF  A  OENTUBT. 

the  State,  sowing  seed  for  the  coming  presidential 
campaign.  I  never  spoke  in  public  during  an  election 
excitement,  never  advocated  on  the  platform  the  claims 
of  any  particular  man,  but  urged  general  principles. 

Stephen  Miller  was  our  St.  Cloud  delegate  to  the 
Chicago  Convention  which  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln, 
led  the  canvass  in  the  State,  as  the  most  efficient 
speaker  and  was  chairman  of  the  Electoral  College. 
His  prominent  position  in  the  Border  Ruffian  war 
added  largely  to  his  popularity  in  the  State,  and  once 
more  that  little  printing  office  under  the  grand  old 
trees  was  plunged  into  politics ;  this  time  into  an  elec 
tion  on  which  hung  the  destinies  of  the  nation.  How 
that  election  was  carried  on  in  other  States  I  know 
not,  but  in  Minnesota  the  banner  of  Republicanism 
and  human  freedom  was  borne  aloft  over  a  well  fought 
field.  There  was  not  much  surface  work.  Men  strug 
gled  for  theRight'against  the  old  despotism  of  Might, 
and  planted  their  cause  on  foundations  more  enduring 
than  Minnesota  granite  itself. 

Yet,  even  then,  the  opposition  of  the  Garrisonians 
was  most  persistent.  There  was  a  large  anti-slavery 
element  among  the  original  settlers  of  Minnesota,  but 
it  was  mostly  of  the  Garrisonian  or  non-voting  type, 
and  had  lain  dormant  under  pro-slavery  rule.  To 
utilize  this  element  at  the  polls  was  my  special  desire. 
The  ground  occupied  by  them  was  the  one  I  had 
abandoned,  i.  e.,  the  ground  made  by  the  Covenanters 
when  the  Constitution  first  appeared.  They  pro 
nounced  it  "  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement 
with  hell,"  and  would  not  vote  or  hold  office  under  it ; 
would  not  take  an  oath  to  support  it.  So  firmly  had 


STATE  AND  NATIONAL  POLITICS.  199 

Garrison  planted  himself  on  the  old  Covenanter  plat 
form,  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  labored  harder 
for  the  overthrow  of  slavery  or  political  anti-slavery ; 
whether  he  more  fiercely  denounced  slave-holders  or 
men  who  voted  against  slave-holding.  Once  after  a 
"  flaming "  denunciation  of  political  abolitionists, 
some  one  said  to  him : 

"  Mr.  Garrison,  I  arn  surprised  at  the  ground  you 
take!  Do  you  not  think  James  G.  Birney  and  Ger- 
rit  Smith  are  anti-slavery?" 

He  hesitated,  and  replied: 

"They  have  anti-slavery  tendencies,  I  admit." 

Now,  James  G.  Birney,  when  a  young  man,  fell  heir 
to  the  third  of  an  Alabama  estate,  and  arranged  with 
the  other  heirs  to  take  the  slaves  as  his  portion.  He 
took  them  all  into  a  free  State,  emancipated  them,  and 
left  himself  without  a  dollar,  but  went  to  work  and  be 
came  the  leader  of  political  abolitionists,  while  Ger- 
rit  Smith  devoted  his  splendid  talents  and  immense 
wealth  to  the  cause  of  the  slave.  When  their  mode 
of  action  was  so  reprehensible  to  Mr.  Garrison,  we 
may  judge  the  strength  of  his  opposition  to  that  plan 
of  action  which  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  slavery. 
His  non-resistance  covered  ballots  as  well  as  bullets, 
and  slavery,  the  creation  of  brute  force  and  ballots, 
must  not  be  attacked  by  any  weapon,  save  moral  sua 
sion.  So  it  was,  that  Garrisonianism,  off  the  line  of 
the  underground  railroad,  was  a  rather  harmless  foe 
to  slavery,  and  was  often  used  by  it  to  prevent  the 
casting  of  votes  which  would  endanger  its  power. 

From  the  action  of  the  slave  power,  it  must  by  that 
time  have  been  apparent  to  all,  that  adverse  votes  was 


200  HALF  A  CEITTUBT. 

what  it  most  dreaded;  but  old-side  Covenanters,  Qua 
kers,  and  Garrisonians  conld  not  cast  these  without 
soiling  their  hands  by  touching  that  bad  Constitution. 
But  that  moral  dilettanteism,  which  thinks  first  of  its 
own  hands,  was  not  confined  to  non-voting  abolitionists ; 
for  the  "thorough  goers"  of  the  old  Liberty  Party, 
could  not  come  down  from  their  perch  on  platforms 
which  embraced  all  the  moralties,  to  work  on  one 
which  only  said  to  slavery  "  not  another  foot  of  ter 
ritory." 

Both  these  parties  attacked  me.  The  one  argued 
that  I,  of  necessity,  endorsed  slavery  every  where  by  rec 
ognizing  the  Constitution;  the  other  that  I  must  favor 
its  existence  where  it  then  was,  by  working  with  the  Re 
publican  party,  which  was  only  pledged  to  prevent  its 
extension.  To  me,  these  positions  seemed  utterly  un 
tenable,  their  arguments  preposterous,  and  I  did  my 
best  to  make  this  appear.  I  claimed  the  Constitution 
as  anti-slavery,  and  taught  the  duty  of  overthrowing 
slavery  by  and  through  it,  but  no  argument  which  I 
used  did  half  the  service  of  an  illustration  which  came 
to  me: 

I  had  a  little  garden  in  which  the  weeds  did  grow, 
and  little  Bobbie  Miller  had  a  little  broken  hoe.  "When 
I  went  into  my  garden  to  cut  the  weeds  away,  I  took 
up  Bobbie's  little  hoe  to  help  me  in  the  fray.  If  that 
little  hoe  were  wanting,  I'd  take  a  spoon  or  fork,  or 
any  other  implement,  but  always  keep  at  work.  If 
any  one  would  send  me  a  broader,  sharper  hoe,  I'd  use 
it  on  those  ugly  weeds  and  cut  more  with  one  blow ; 
but  till  I  got  a  better  hoe,  I'd  work  away  with  Bob 
bie's.  I'd  ride  one  steady-going  nag,  and  not  a  dozen 


STATE  AND  NATIONAL  POLITICS.  201 

hobbies;  help  any  man  or  boy,  or  fiend  to  do  what 
needed  doing,  and  only  stop  when  work  came  up  which 
done  would  call  for  rueing. 

This  conceit  struck  popular  fancy  as  plain  argument 
could  not  have  done,  and  the  Republican  party  came 
to  be  called  "  Robbie  Miller's  Hoe  " — an  imperfect 
means  of  reaching  a  great  end,  and  one  that  any  one 
might  use  without  becoming  responsible  for  its  im 
perfections. 

During  the  heat  of  that  Lincoln  campaign,  Galusha 
A.  Grow,  then  Speaker  of  the  U.  S.  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  came  to  St.  Cloud  to  speak,  and  found  me  ill 
with  quinsy;  but  I  went  to  the  meeting.  It  was  held 
in  Wilson's  Hall,  which  was  on  the  second  floor  of  a 
frame  building,  and  was  so  packed  that  before  he  be 
gan  fears  were  felt  lest  the  floors  should  give  way. 
But  the  speaker  told  the  audience  that  the  floor  would 
"  hold  still "  if  they  did ;  and  any  one  who  felt  uneasy 
had  better  leave  now.  No  one  left,  and  for  two  hours 
and  a  half  he  held  that  packed  assembly  in  close  and 
silent  attention.  He  was  very  popular  on  the  frontier 
on  account  of  his  homestead  bill,  yet  the  hall  was  sur 
rounded  all  the  time  he  spoke  by  a  howling  Democratic 
mob,  who  hurled  stones  against  the  house,  fired  guns, 
shouted  and  yelled,  trying  to  drown  his  voice.  To 
make  it  more  interesting  and  try  to  draw  out  the 
audience,  they  made  a  huge  bonfire  and  burned  me  in 
effigy  as — 

"  The  mother  of  the  Republican  party." 

The  result  of  that  campaign  is  known,  for  in  it  Min 
nesota  was  made  so  thoroughly  Republican  that  the 
party  must  needs  split,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  its  su 
premacy. 


202  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER    LXII. 

RELIGIOUS      CONTROVERSIES. 

THE  St.  Cloud  Democrat  found  in  orthodoxy  a 
foe  almost  as  powerful  and  persistent  as  slavery  itself. 
In  a  local  controversy  about  dancing,  I  recommended 
that  amusement  as  the  only  substitute  for  lascivious 
plays,  and  this  was  eagerly  seized  upon  by  those  who 
saw  nothing  wrong  in  wholesale  concubinage  of  the 
South.  A  fierce  attack  was  made  on  The  Democrat  by 
a  zealous  Baptist  minister;  to  which  I  replied,  when 
it  was  announced  and  proclaimed  that  on  a  certain 
Sabbath,  at  10  A.  M.,  this  minister  would  answer  The 
Democrat.  At  the  appointed  hour  the  house  over 
flowed,  and  people  crowded  around  the  doors  and 
windows,  while  Gen.  Lowrie  occupied  a  prominent  seat 
in  the  audience. 

It  surely  was  an  odd  sight  to  see  that  preacher 
mount  the  stand,  carrying  an  open  copy  of  The  Demo 
crat,  lay  it  down  beside  the  Bible,  and  read  verse  about 
from  the  two  documents.  The  sermon  was  as  odd  as 
the  text.  It  disposed  of  me  by  the  summary  mode  of 
denunciation,  but  also  disposed  of  David,  Solomon 
and  Miriam  at  the  same  time.  When  I  gave  the  dis 
course  a  careful  Scriptural  criticism,  I  carried  the 
community,  and  was  strengthened  by  the  controversy. 
But  another,  more  serious  and  general  dispute  was  at 
hand. 

When  Theodore  Parker  died,  the  orthodox  press 
from  Maine  to  Georgia,  handed  him  over  to  Satan  to 
be  tormented;  and  then  my  reputation  for  heresy 
reached  its  flood- tide. 


RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSIES.  203 

Rev.  John  Ren  wick,  one  of  our  Covenanter  martyrs, 
was  my  ideal  of  a  Christian,  and  when  he  lay  in  the 
Edinburg  prison  under  sentence  of  death,  his  weeping 
friends  begged  him  to  conform  and  save  his  life.  They 
said  to  him: 

"  Dinna  ye  think  that  we,  who  ha'  conformit  may 
be  saved?" 

"  Aye,  aye.  God  forbid  that  I  should  limit  his 
grace." 

"  An'  dinna  ye  think,  ye  too  could  be  saved  and 
conform?" 

"  Oh,  aye  aye.  The  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  fra 
all  sin." 

"  Weel,  what  mair  do  ye  want,  than  the  salvation  o' 
yer  saul?" 

"  Mair,  mickle  mair!  I  want  to  honor  my  Master, 
and  bear  witness  to  the  truth." 

To  satisfy  this  want,  he  died  a  felon's  death.  The 
central  idea  of  that  old  hero-making  Westminster  the 
ology  was,  that  man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  first, 
and  enjoy  him  forever  when  that  is  done.  In  all  the 
religious  training  of  my  youth,  I  had  never  heard  the 
term  "  seek  salvation."  We  were  to  seek  the  privilege 
of  serving  God ;  yet  I  was  willing  to  be  dead-headed 
into  heaven,  with  the  rest  of  the  Presbyterians. 

A  Protestant  Episcopal  convention  had  pointedly- 
refused  to  advise  members  of  that  church  to  respect 
the  marriage  relation  among  their  slaves,  and  so  had 
dimmed  the  Elizabethian  glory  of  a  church  which  once 
stood  for  freedom  so  nobly  that  the  winds  and  waves 
became  her  allies,  and  crowned  her  with  victory.  The 
General  Assembly  had  laid  the  honor  of  its  martyrs  in 


204  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

the  dust  by  endorsing  human  slavery;  and  I  must  be 
false  to  every  conviction  if  I  did  not  protest  against 
calling  that  Christianity  which  held  out  crowns  of 
glory  to  man -thieves  and  their  abettors,  and  everlasting 
torments  to  those  who  had  spent  their  lives  glorifying 
God  and  bearing  witness  to  the  truth.  My  defense 
of  Parker  and  unwillingness  to  have  all  Unitarians 
sent  to  the  other  side  of  the  Great  Gulf,  won  for  me 
a  prominent  place  among  those  whom  the  churches 
pronounced  "  Infidels." 

But  there  came  a  time  when  "Providence"  seemed 
to  be  on  the  side  of  the  slave. 

Eev.  J.  Calhoun  was  a  highly-cultured  gentleman, 
a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  and  one  of  those  urbane 
men  who  add  force  and  dignity  to  any  opinion.  His 
wife  was  Gen.  Lowrie's  only  sister.  He  preached 
gratuitously  in  St.  Cloud,  and  Border  Euffianism  and 
Slavery  gained  respectability  through  their  connection, 
when  he  and  his  wife  made  that  fatal  plunge  off  the 
bridge  in  St.  Cloud — a  plunge  which  sent  a  thrill  of  hor 
ror  through  the  land.  I  accompanied  my  sympathetic, 
respectful  obituary  notice,  with  the  statement  that  the 
costly  cutter  wrecked,  and  the  valuable  horse  instantly 
killed,  were  both  purchased  with  money  obtained  by  the 
sale  of  a  woman  and  her  child,  who  had  been  held  as 
slaves  in  Minnesota,  in  defiance  of  her  law,  and  been  ta 
ken  by  this  popular  divine  to  a  Tennessee  auction  block. 

The  accident  was  entirely  owing  to  the  unprece 
dented  and  unaccountable  behavior  of  that  horse,  and 
people  shuddered  with  a  new  horror  on  being  reminded 
of  the  price  which  had  been  paid  for  him — bodies  and 
souls  of  two  citizens  and  the  honor  of  that  free  State. 


FRONTIER  LIFE.  205 

CHAPTER    XLIII. 

FRONTIER   LIFE. 

THE  culture  which  the  pale  faces  introduced  into 
that  land  of  the  Dakotas  was  sometimes  curious.  The 
first  sermon  I  heard  there  was  preached  in  Rockville 
—a  town-site  on  the  Sauk,  twelve  miles  from  its  con 
fluence  with  the  Mississippi — in  a  store-room  of  which 
the  roof  was  not  yet  shingled.  The  only  table  in  the 
town  served  as  a  pulpit;  the  red  blankets  from  one 
wagon  were  converted  into  cushions  for  the  front 
pews,  which  consisted  of  rough  boards  laid  on  trussles. 
There  was  only  one  hymn  book,  and  after  reading  the 
hymn,  the  preacher  tendered  the  book  to  any  one  who 
would  lead  the  singing,  but  no  one  volunteered.  My 
scruples  about  psalms  seemed  to  vanish,  so  I  went 
forward,  took  the  book,  lined  out  the  hymn,  and  started 
a  tune,  which  was  readily  taken  up  and  sung  by  all 
present.  We  were  well  satisfied  with  what  the  day 
brought  us,  as  we  rode  home  past  those  wonderful 
granite  rocks  which  spring  up  out  of  the  prairie,  look 
ing  like  old  hay -ricks  in  a  meadow. 

There  were  people  in  our  frontier  town  who  would 
have  graced  any  society,  and  with  the  elasticity  of  true 
culture  adapted  themselves  to  all  circumstances.  At 
my  residence,  which  adjoined  the  Democrat  office, 
I  held  fortnightly  receptions,  at  which  dancing  was 
the  amusement,  and  coffee  and  sandwiches  the  refresh 
ments.  At  one  of  these,  I  had  the  honor  to  entertain 
Gov.  Ramsey,  Lieut.-Gov.  Donnelly,  State  Treas. 
Shaeifer,  and  a  large  delegation  from  St.  Paul;  but 


206  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

not  having  plates  for  seventy  people,  I  substituted 
squares  of  white  printing  paper.  „  When  Gov.  Ramsey 
received  his,  he  turned  it  over,  and  said: 

"  "What  am  I  to  do  with  this?" 

"That  is  the  ticket  you  are  to  vote,"  was  the  an 
swer. 

In  our  social  life  there  was  often  a  weird  mingling 
of  civilization  and  barbarism.  Upon  one  occasion,  a 
concert  was  given,  in  which  the  audience  were  in  full 
dress,  and  all  evening  in  the  principal  streets  of  St. 
Cloud  a  lot  of  Chippewas  played  foot-ball  with  the 
heads  of  some  Sioux,  with  whom  they  had  been  at  war 
that  day. 

In  those  days,  brains  and  culture  were  found  in 
shanties.  The  leaders  of  progress  did  not  shrink  from 
association  with  the  rude  forces  of  savages  and  mother 
nature. 

St.  Cloud  was  the  advance  post  of  that  march  of 
civilization  by  which  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  has 
since  sought  to  reach  the  Sascatchewan,  a  territory  yet 
to  be  made  into  five  wheat-growing  States  as  large  as 
Illinois.  All  the  Hudson  Bay  goods  from  Europe 
passed  our  doors,  in  wagons  or  on  sleds,  under  the  care 
of  the  Burbanks,  the  great  mail  carriers  and  express 
men  of  Minnesota,  and  once  they  brought  a  young 
lady  who  had  come  by  express  from  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
and  been  placed  under  the  charge  of  their  agent  at  "New 
York,  and  whom  they  handed  over  to  the  officer  she 
had  come  to  marry  on  the  shores  of  Hudson  Bay. 
But  their  teams  usually  came  east  with  little  freight, 
as  the  furs  sent  to  Europe  came  down  in  carts,  not  one 
of  which  had  so  much  iron  as  a  nail  in  them,  and 


FRONTIER  LIFE.  207 

which  came  in  long,  creaking  trains,  drawn  by  oxen  or 
Indian  ponies. 

In  each  train  there  was  generally  one  gorgeous 
equipage — a  cart  painted  blue,  with  a  canvas  cover, 
drawn  by  one  large  white  ox  in  raw-hide  harness  In 
this  coach  of  state  rode  the  lady  of  the  train — who  was 
generally  a  half-breed — on  her  way  to  do  her  shopping 
in  St.  Paul.  Once  the  lady  was  a  full-blooded  Indian, 
and  had  her  baby  with  her,  neatly  dressed  and  strapped 
to  a  board.  A  bandage  across  the  forehead  held  the 
head  in  place,  and  every  portion  of  the  body  was  as 
secure  as  board  and  bandages  could  make  them,  except 
the  arms  from  the  elbow  down,  but  no  danger  of  the 
little  fellow  sucking  his  thumb.  His  lady  mamma  did 
not  have  to  hold  him,  for  he  was  stood  up  in  a  corner 
like  a  cane  or  umbrella,  and  seemed  quite  comfortable 
as  well  as  content.  She  had  traveled  seven  weeks,  had 
come  seventeen  hundred  miles  to  purchase  some  dresses 
and  trinkets,  and  would  no  doubt  be  a  profitable  cus 
tomer  to  St.  Paul  merchants,  for  the  lady  of  the  train 
was  a  person  of  wealth  and  authority,  always  the  wife 
of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  her  sentence  of  death 
might  have  been  fatal  to  any  man  in  it. 

In  these  trains  were  always  found  Indians  filling  po 
sitions  as  useful  laborers,  for  the  English  government 
never  gave  premiums  for  idleness  and  vagabondism 
among  Indians,  by  feeding  and  clothing  them  without 
eifort  on  their  own  part.  Their  dexterity  in  turning 
griddle  cakes,  by  shaking  the  pan  and  giving  it  a  jerk 
which  sent  the  cake  up  into  the  air  and  brought  it  down 
square  into  the  pan  other  side  up,  would  have  made 
Biddy's  head  whirl  to  see. 


203  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  "  Gov.  Ramsey"  was  the  first  steamboat  which 
ran  above  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  in  the  spring 
of  '59  she  was  steamed  and  hawsered  up  the  Sank 
Rapids,  and  ran  two  hundred  miles,  until  the  falls  of 
Pokegamy  offered  insurmountable  barriers  to  further 
progress.  It  was  thought  impossible  to  get  her  down 
again,  there  was  no  business  for  her,  and  she  lay  use 
less  until,  the  next  winter,  Anson  Northup  took  out 
her  machinery  and  drew  it  across  on  sleds  to  the  Red 
River  of  the  North,  where  it  was  built  into  the  first 
steamboat  which  ever  ran  on  that  river. 

Before  starting  on  his  expedition,  Mr.  Northup 
came  to  the  Democrat  office  to  leave  an  advertisement 
and  ask  me  to  appeal  to  the  public  for  aid  in  provis 
ions  and  feed  to  be  furnished  along  the  route.  He 
was  in  a  Buffalo  suit,  from  his  ears  to  his  feet,  and 
looked  like  a  bale  of  furs.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  fox 
skin  cap  with  the  nose  lying  on  the  two  paws  of  the 
animal  just  between  his  eyes,  the  tail  hanging  down 
between  his  shoulders.  He  was  a  brave,  strong  man, 
and  carried  out  his  project,  which  to  most  people  was 
wild. 

Nothing  seemed  more  important  than  the  cultiva 
tion  of  health  for  the  people,  and  to  this  I  gave  much 
earnest  attention,  often  expressed  in  the  form  of  bad 
inage.  There  were  so  many  young  houskeepers  that 
there  was  much  need  of  teachers.  I  tried  to  get  the 
New  England  women  to  stop  feeding  their  families  on 
dough — especially  hot  soda  dough — and  to  substi 
tute  well-baked  bread  as  a  steady  article  of  diet.  In 
trying  to  wean  them  from  cake,  I  told  of  a  time  when 
chaos  reigned  on  earth,  long  before  the  days  of  the 


PEINTEES.  209 

mastodons,  but  even  then,  "N"ew  England  women  were 
up  making  cake,  and  would  certainly  be  found  at  that 
business  when  the  last  trump  sounded.  But  they  bore 
with  my  "  crotchets  "  very-patiently,  a'nd  even  seemed 
to  enjoy  them. 


CHAPTEE    XLIY. 

PKINTEES. 

THE  printer's  case  used  to  be  one  of  the  highways  to 
editorial  and  congressional  honors;  but  the  little  fel 
lows  of  the  craft  invented  a  machine  which  goes  over 
it  like  a  "  header  "  over  a  wheat-field  and  leaves  a  dead 
level  of  stalks,  all  minus  the  heads,  so  that  no  tall  fel 
lows  are  left  to  shame  them  by  passing  on  from 
the  "  stick  "  to  the  tripod  or  speaker's  mallet.  Their 
great  Union  rolling-pin  flattens  them  all  out  like  pie 
crust,  and  tramps  are  not  overshadowed  by  the  supe 
riority  of  industrious  men.  But  the  leveling  process 
makes  impassable  mountains  and  gorges  in  other  walks 
of  life — makes  it  necessary  that  a  publisher  with  one 
hundred  readers  must  pay  as  much  for  type-setting  as 
he  with  a  hundred  thousand.  The  salary  of  editors 
and  contributors  may  vary  from  nothing  to  ten  thou 
sand  a  year;  but  through  all  mutations  of  this  life,  the 
printer's  wages  must  remain  in  statu  quo.  So  the 
Union  kills  small  papers,  prevents  competition  in  the 
newspaper  business,  builds  up  monster  establishments, 
and  keeps  typos  at  the  case  forever  and  a  day. 

I  knew  when  the  Visiter  started  that  it  could  not 
live  and  pay  for  type-setting  the  same  price  as  paid  by 


210  HALF  A  CENTURY. 


the  New  Yo:  ;    ^"ifiune,  and  the  day  the  office  became 
mine,  T  statec  -  •>  the  printers,  who  took  their 

hats  and  left.     ii.  -!     !,  I  had  ^ait  some  p.      e  -very 
day  for  two  wee*,,  ng  room,  and  v^u  the 

knowledge  then  immured,  I,  iarted  the  business 

of  practical  printer.     I  took  a  proof  of  irtjhfirst  stick, 
and  lo,  it  read  from  right  to  left.     I  distributed  &v 
but  had  to  mark  the  stick  that  I  might  remember. 

The  first  day  I  took  two  boys  as  apprentices.  First 
Wesley  Miller,  who  had  spent  two  months  in  a  Har- 
risburg  office,  and  knew  something  of  the  art,  but  did 
not  like  anything  about  it  except  working  the  press. 
Second,  my  nephew,  "William  B.  Mitchell,  who  was 
thirteen,  knew  nothing  of  types,  but  was  a  model  of 
patient  industry. 

Our  magnanimous  printers  hung  around  hotels, 
laughing  at  the  absurdity  of  this  amateur  office.  We 
might  set  type,  but  when  it  came  to  making  and  lock 
ing  up  a  form,  ha,  ha,  would  n't  there  be  sport?  That 
handsome  new  type  would  all  be  a  mess  of  pi,  then 
somebody  would  be  obliged  to  come  to  their  terms  or 
St.  Cloud  would  be  without  a  paper.  It  was  their 
great  opportunity  to  display  their  interest  in  the  gen 
eral  welfare,  and  they  embraced  it  to  the  full  ;  but  of 
the  little  I  had  learned  in  that  short  apprenticeship 
six  years  ago,  I  retained  a  clear  conception  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  justification  by  works.  I  brought  these  to 
bear  on  those  forms,  made  them  up,  locked  them, 
and  sent  for  Stephen  Miller  to  carry  them  to  the  press, 
when  each  one  lifted  like  a  paving  stone;  but  alas, 
alas,  the  columns  read  from  right  to  left.  I  unlocked 
them,  put  the  matter  back  in  the  galleys,  made  them 
up  new,  and  we  had  the  paper  off  on  time. 


THE  REBELLION.  211 

From  that  time  until  the  first  of  January,  '(53,  I  car 
ried  on  the  business  of  practical  printer,  issued  a  paper 
ev*-  jc::,  did  a  large  amount  of  job  work,  was  city 
ana  county  printer  for  hatf  a  dozen  counties,  did  all 
the  legal  advertising,  published  the  tax  lists,  and  issued 
extras  dvurhig  the  Indian  massacres. 


CHAPTER  XLY. 

THE    REBELLION. 

WHEN,  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  the  South  made 
the  North  understand  that  her  threats  of  disunion 
meant  something  more  than  "tin  kettle  thunder," 
there  was  little  spirit  of  compromise  among  the  Re 
publicans  and  Douglas  Democrats  of  Minnesota,  who 
generally  looked  with  impatience  on  the  abject  servil 
ity  with  which  Northern  men  in  Congress  begged  their 
Southern  masters  not  to  leave  them,  with  no  slaves  to 
catch,  no  peculiar  institution  to  guard. 

I  was  in  favor  of  not  only  permitting  the  Southern 
States  to  leave  the  Union,  but  of  driving  them  out  of 
it  as  we  would  drive  tramps  out  of  a  drawing  room. 
Put  them  out!  and  open  every  avenue  for  the  escape  of 
their  slaves.  But  from  that  spirit  of  conciliation  with 
which  the  North  first  met  secession,  the  change  was 
sudden.  The  fire  on  Sumter  lit  an  actual  flame  of 
freedom,  and  the  people  were  ready  then  to  wipe  slavery 
from  the  whole  face  of  the  land.  When  Gen.  Fre 
mont  issued  his  famous  order  confiscating  the  slaves 
of  rebels  in  arms,  I  was  in  receipt  of  a  large  exchange 
list,  and  have  never  seen  such  unanimity  on  any  sub- 


212  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

ject.  I  think  :  here  were  bnt  two  papers  which  offered 
an  objection:  but  this  land  was  not  worthy  to  do  a 
generous  de>>d.  "^S^  President  Lincoln  rescinded  that 
order^  and  th->  great  rushing: stream  of  popular  enthu 
siasm  was  dammed,  tr  -ned  back  to 'fleas:  mto  the  dismal 
swamp  of  constitutional  quibbles  and  statutej  inven 
tions.  There  it  lay,  and  bred  reptiles  and  mia^ 
to  sting  and  poison  the  guilty  inhabitants  of  this  great 
land;  and  never  since  have  we  been  permitted  to  reach 
an  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  any  great  principle;  for 
history  has  no  record  of  a  great  act  so  thoroughly  di 
vested  of  all  greatness  by  the  meanness  of  the  motive, 
as  is  our  "  Act  of  Emancipation." 

Long  after  the  war  was  in  progress,  the  old  habit 
of  yielding  precedence  to  the  South  manifested  itself 
so  strongly  as  to  sour  and  disgust  the  staunchest  Re 
publicans.  The  only  two  important  military  appoint 
ments  given  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  to  St. 
Cloud  were  given  to  two  Southern  Democrats,  office 
holders  under  Buchanan  and  supporters  of  JBreckin- 
ridge,  the  Southern  candidate  for  President  in  '60.  In 
the  autumn  of  '61,  I  asked  a  farmer  to  take  out  and 
post  bills  for  a  meeting  to  send  delegates  to  the  coun 
ty  convention.  He  had  been  an  active  worker  in  the 
campaign  of  '60,  had  never  sought  an  office,  and  I  was 
surprised  when  he  declined  so  small  a  service,  but  his 
explanation  was  this: 

"  If  the  Democrats  win  the  election,  the  Democrats 
will  get  the  offices.  If  the  Republicans  win  the  elec 
tion,  the  Democrats  will  get  the  offices,  and  I  don't 
see  but  we  may  as  well  let  them  win  the  election." 

When  I  explained  that  the  more  false  others  were 


THE  REBELLION.  213 

to  a  party  or  principle,  the  more  r^ed  there  was  for 
him  to  be  true,  he  took  the  bills  and  managed  the 
meeting;  but  running  a  Republican  ticket  under  a 
Republican  administration  v.  so  easy  as  running 

the  same  ticket,  under  Buchanan.  Then  men  had  hope 
and  enthusiasm,  but  this  was  killed  by  a  victory 
throngh  which  the  enemy  was  made  to  triumph. 

As  Gov.  Ramsey  was  the  first  to  tender  troops  to 
President  Lincoln  for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebel 
lion,  so  the  men  of  Minnesota  were  among  the  first  to 
organize  and  drill.  Stephen  Miller  raised  a  company 
in  St.  Cloud,  with  it  joined  the  first  regiment  at  Ft. 
Snelling,  and  was  appointed  Lieut.  Col. 

We  went  to  Ft.  Snelling  to  see  our  first  regiment 
embark.  It  was  a  grand  sight  to  see  the  men  in  red 
shirts  and  white  Havelocks  march  down  that  rocky, 
winding  way,  going  to  their  Southern  graves,  for  very 
few  of  them  ever  returned. 

More  troops  were  called  for,  and  two  companies 
formed  in  St.  Cloud.  While  they  waited  under  inarch 
ing  orders,  they  and  the  citizens  were  aroused  at  two 
o'clock  one  morning  "by  the  cry  from  the  east  side  of 
the  river  of,  "  Indians,  Indians."  A  boat  was  sent 
over  and  brought  a  white-lipped  messenger,  with  the 
news  of  the  Sioux  massacre  at  Ft.  Ridgley. 


214:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 


CHAPTER    XLYI. 


.- 

MY  first  public  speech  was  the  revelation  of  a  talent 
hidden  in  a  napkin,  ana  I  set  about  putt;  to  us 

ury.  I  wrote  a  lecture  —  "  "Women  and  PC 
reason  for  my  anomalous  position  and  a  ju_  ileation 
of  those  men  who  had  endorsed  my  right  to  be  a  polit 
ical  leader,  and  gave  sketches  of  women  in  sacred  and 
profane  history  who  had  been  so  endorsed  by  brave 
and  wise  men. 

The  lecture  gave  an  account  of  the  wrongs  heaped 
upon  women  by  slavery,  as  a  reason  why  women  were 
then  called  upon  for  special  activity,  and  I  never  failed 
to  "  bring  down  the  house  "  by  describing  the  scene 
in  which  the  tall  Kentuckian  proposed  to  the  tall 
Pennsylvanian  that  he  should  horsewhip  an  old  wom 
an  one"  hundred  and  two  times,  to  compel  her  to  earn 
two  hundred  dollars  with  which  his  mightiness  might 
purchase  Havana  cigars,  gold  chains,  etc.,  or  to  elicit 
signs  of  shame  by  relating  the  fact  of  the  United  States 
government  proposing  to  withdraw  diplomatic  rela 
tions  with  Austria  for  whipping  Hungarian  women  for 
political  offenses,  while  worn  an-  whipping  was  the 
principal  industry  of  our  American  chivalry. 

I  stated  that  men  had  sought  to  divide  this  world 
into  two  fields  —  religion  and  politics.  In  the  first, 
they  were  content  that  their  mothers  and  wives 
should  dwell  with  them,  but  in  the  second,  no  kid  slip 
per  was  ever  to  be  set.  Horace  Mann  had  warned 
women  to  stand  back,  saying:  "  Politics  is  a  stygian 


PLATFORMS.  215 

pool."  I  insisted  that  politics  had  reached  this  condi 
tion  through  the  permit  given  to  Satan  to  turn  all  the 
waste  water  of  his  mills  into  that  pool;  that  tlis  grant 
mast  be  rescinded  and  the  pool  drained  at  aii  hazards. 
Indeed  the  emergency  ;;h  that  even  women  might 

handle  sliov* 

Chicago  had  once  been  in  _a  swamp,  but  the  City 
Fathers  had  lifted  it  six  feet.  Politicians  must  "raise 
the  grade,"  must  lift  their  politics  the  height  of  a  man, 
and  make  them  a  habitation  for  men,  not  reptiles.  At 
this  an  audience  would  burst  into  uproarous  applause. 

As  for  the  grand  division,  no  surveyor  could  find 
the  line;  for  no  line  was  possible  between  religion  and 
politics.  The  attempt  to  divide  them  is  an  assump 
tion  that  there  is  some  part  of  the  universe  in  which 
the  Lord  is  not  law-giver.  The  Fathers  of  the  Republic 
had  explored  and  found  a  country  they  thought  was 
outside  the  Divine  jurisdiction,  and  called  it  Politics. 
Because  old  world  governmeuthad  bowed  to  popes  and 
prelates,  they  would  ignore  Deity,  and  say  to  Omnipo 
tence  what  Canute  did  to  the  sea:  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou 
go  but  no  further,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be 
stayed."  But  God  laughed  them  to  scorn,  and  would 
certainly  dash  them  to  pieces.  The  government  which 
they  had  set  up  like  the  golden  image  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzer,  and  demanded  that  all  should  bow  before  it, 
this  same  government  was  bound  to  sustain  men  in 
scourging  women  for  chastity.  Every  man  who  voted 
a  democratic  ticket  voted  to  put  down  as  insurrection 
any  attempt  to  stand  between  the  cradle  and  its  robber. 

I  never  spoke  of  the  St.  Cloud  trouble — there  was 
too  much  else  to  talk  about.  I  was  seldom  interrupted 


216  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

by  anything  but  applause;  but  in  Still  water  I  was 
hissed  for  denouncing  Buchanan's  administration.  I 
waited  a  moment,  then  lowered  my  voice,  and  said  I  had 
raised  a  good  many  goslings,  and  thought  I  had  left 
them  all  in  Pennsylvania,  but  found  some  had  followed 
me,  and  was  sorry  to  have  no  corn  for  them.  There 
was  no  further  interruption. 

I  was  at  that  time  the  guest  of  a  son  of  my  Pitts- 
burg  friend,  Judge  McMillan,  who  led  the  singing  in 
our  church,  and  with  whom  I  expect  to  sing  "  St. 
Thomas  "  in  heaven.  My  host  of  that  evening  after 
wards  became  JJ.  S.  Senator  from  Minnesota. 

A  considerable  portion  of  three  winters  I  traveled 
in  Minnesota  and  lectured,  one  day  riding  thirty 
miles  in  an  open  cutter  when  the  mercury  was  frozen 
and  the  wind  blew  almost  a  gale.  Have  crossed  house 
less  prairies  between  midnight  and  morning,  with  only 
a  stage  driver,  and  I  never  encountered  a  neglect  or  a 
rudeness;  but  found  gentlemen  in  red  flannel  shirts 
and  their  trowsers  stuffed  into  the  tops  of  their  boots, 
who  had  no  knowledge  of  grammar,  and  who  would, 
I  think,  have  sold  their  lives  dearly  in  my  defense. 

Late  in  '60  or  early  in  '61, 1  lectured  in  Mantorville, 
and  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Bancroft,  editor  of  the  Ex- 
press,  when  he  handed  me  a  copy  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  pointed  to  an  item,  and  turned  away.  It  was 
a  four  line  announcement  that  he  who  had  been  my 
husband  had  obtained  a  divorce  on  the  ground  of  de 
sertion.  I  laid  down  the  paper,  looked  at  my  hands, 
and  thought: ' 

"  Once  more  you  are  mine.  True,  the  proceeds  of 
your  twenty  years  of  brick- making  are  back  there  in 


OUT  INTO  THE  WORLD.  217 

Egypt  with  your  lost  patrimony,  but  we  are  over  the 
Ked  Sea,  out  in  the  free  desert;  no  pursuit  is  possible, 
and  if  bread  fails,  God  will  send  maiana." 

While  I  sat,  Mrs.  Bancroft  came  to  me,  caressed  me, 
and  said: 

u  Old  things  have  passed  r  •,  ^.y,  and  all  things  have 
become  new." 


CHAPTEE    XLYII. 

OUT  INTO  THE  WORLD  AND  HOME  AGAIN. 

IN  my  first  lecturing  winter  I  spoke  in  the  Hall  of 
Representatives,  St.  Paul,  to  a  large  audience,  and  suc 
ceeded  past  all  my  hopes.  I  spoke  there  again  in  the 
winter  of  '61  and  '62,  on  the  anti-slavery  question, 
and  in  a  public  hall  on  "  Woman's  Legal  Disabilities." 
Both  were  very  successful,  and  I  was  invited  to  give 
the  latter  lecture  before  the  Senate,  which  I  did. 
The  hall  was  packed  and  the  lecture  received  with 
profound  attention,  interrupted  by  hearty  applause. 

The  Senate  was  in  session,  and  Gen.  Lowrie  occu 
pied  his  seat  as  a  member.  It  was  a  great  fall  for  him 
to  tumble  from  his  dictatorship  to  so  small  an  honor. 
He  sat  and  looked  at  me  like  one  in  a  dream,  and  I 
could  not  but  see  that  he  was  breaking.  I  hoped  he 
would  come  up  with  others  when  they  began  to  crowd 
around  me,  but  he  did  not. 

I  had  come  to  be  the  looked-at  of  all  lookers  ;  the 
talked-of  of  all  talkers;  was  the  guest  of  Geo.  A. 
Nurse,  the  U.  S.  Attorney,  dined  with  the  Governor, 


218  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  was  praised  by  the  press.  I  was  dubbed  the 
"  Fanny  Kemblf  ^f  America,"  and  reminded  critics 
of  the  then  greatest  Shy  lock  of  the  stage.  A  judge 
from  Ohio  said  there  wiis  "not  a  m»*i  in  the  State  who 
could  have  presented  that  case  ( l  gal  Disa 

bilities)  so  well."     Indeed,  I  wo^  -tr  as 

if  I  were  about  to  be  hanged! 

A  responsible  Eastern  lecture-agent  offered  me  one 
hundred  dollars  each  for  three  lectures,  one  in  Mil 
waukee,  one  in  Chicago  and  one  in  Cleveland.  I  wanted 
to  accept,  but  was  overruled  by  friends,  who  thought 
me  too  feeble  to  travel  alone,  and  that  I  would  make 
more  by  employing  an  agent.  They  selected  a  pious 
gentleman,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  and  we  left 
St.  Paul  at  four  o'clock  one  winter  morning,  in  a  prai 
rie  schooner  on  bob-sleds,  to  ride  to  La  Crosse. 

One  of  the  passengers  was  a  pompous  Southerner, 
who  kept  boasting  of  the  "  buck  niggers  "  he  had  sold 
and  the  u  niggers  "  he  had  caught,  and  his  delight  in 
that  sort  of  work.  His  talk  was  aimed  at  me,  but  he 
did  not  address  me,  and  for  hours  I  took  no  notice; 
then,  after  an  unusual  explosion,  I  said  quietly: 

"  Can  you  remember,  sir,  just  exactly  how  many 
niggers  you  have  killed  and  eaten  in  your  day?" 

He  looked  out  on  the  river  and  seemed  to  begin  a 
calculation,  but  must  have  found  the  lists  of  his  ex 
ploits  too  long  for  utterance,  for  lie  had  spoken  not  an 
other  word  when  we  reached  La  Crosse,  where  we  took 
cars  for  Madison,  Wisconsin. 

We  reached  that  beautiful  city  of  lakes  in  time  to 
meet  news  of  the  Ft.  Donelson  fatal  victory;  that  vic 
tory  made  so  much  worse  than  a  hundred  defeats  by 


OUT  INTO  THE  WOULD.  219 

the  return  to  their  masters  of  the  slaves  who  remained 
in  the  fort  and  claimed  the  protection  of  our  flag — 
the  victory  which  converted  the  great  loyal  army  of 
the  North  into  of  slave- ca./  ars.  Alas,  my 

native  1  for  the  i>-  nervation  of  the 

government  d!tx]  out  in  nij-  ;.uirt.  What  could  a  just 
God  want  with  such  a  people?  What  could  he  do  but 
destroy  them? 

That  victory  was  celebrated  in  Madison  with  appro 
priate  ceremonies.  Men  got  drunk  and  cursed  "  nig 
gers  and  abolitionists,"  sat  up  all  night  in  noisy  or 
gies  drinking  health  and  success  to  him  who  was  the 
synonym  of  American  glory. 

The  excitement  and  sudden  revulsion  against  abo 
litionists  with  the  total  incompetence  of  my  agent, 
caused  a  financial  failure  of  my  lecture,  but  I  made 
pleasant  friendships  with  Gov.  Harvey,  Prof.  Carr  and 
their  wives. 

I  started  along  the  route  we  had  come,  and  every 
where,  in  cars,  hotels,  men  were  hurrahing  for  Grant 
and  cursing  "  niggers  and  abolitionists." 

The  hero  had  healed  the  breach  between  the  loving 
brothers  of  the  North  and  South,  who  were  to  rush  into 
each  others  arms  across  the  prostrate  form  of  Liberty. 
Thank  God  for  the  madness  of  the  South;  for  that  sub 
lime  universal  government  which  maketh  "the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him."  Even  in  that  hour  of  triumph 
for  despotism,  I  did  not  doubt  but  Freedom  would 
march  on  until  no  slave  contaminated  the  earth;  but 
before  that  march  this  degraded  government  must 
share  the  fate  of  that  other  Babylon,  which  once  dealt 
"  in  slaves  and  souls  of  men." 


220  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

My  first  small  town  lecture  was  another  financial 
failure,  and  in  t! .  hall  I  paid  and  dismissed  that  high 
ly  respectable  scubas — my  agent. 

That  night  I  i  ^t  lir-a  hotel,  and  going  to  a  bed 
which  had  not  been  properly  ventilated,  wondered  if 
it  could  be  my  duty  to  breast  that  storm  of  popular 
frenzy.  Could  I  at  any  time  be  required  to  drink  tea 
out  of  a  coarse  delf  cup  and  sleep  in  such  a  bed?  Lux 
uries  I  wanted  none;  but  a  china  cup,  silver  spoon  and 
soft  blankets  were  necessaries  of  life.  As  I  lay,  un 
certain  always  whether  I  slept,  I  seemed  to  sit  on  a 
projecting  rock  on  the  side  of  a  precipice  draped  with 
poisonous  vines.  There  was  no  spot  on  which  I  could 
place  my  feet,  while  out  of  holes,  snakes  hissed  at  me, 
and  on  ledges  panthers  glared  at  me  with  their  green 
fiery  eyes,  and  the  tips  of  their  tails  wagging.  Far 
below  lay  a  lovely  green  valley,  walled  on  both  sides 
by  these  haunted  precipitous  banks,  but  stretching  up 
and  down  until  lost  in  vista.  I  knew  that  to  the  right 
was  north — the  direction  of  home;  and  to  the  left, 
south — the  way  out  into  the  great  unknown.  If  I  could 
only  reach  that  lovely  valley  and  the  clear  stream 
w^hich  ran  through  it;  but  this  was  a  vain  longing,  un 
til  there  appeared  in  it  a  young  man  in  a  grey  suit 
and  soft  broad-brimmed  black  felt  hat.  lie  came  up 
the  precipice  toward  me,  and  a  way  made  itself  before 
him,  until  he  held  up  his  hand,  and  said: 

"Come  down!" 

I  saw  his  face,  and  knew  it  was  Christ.  After  see 
ing  that  face,  all  the  conceptions  of  all  the  artists  are  an 
offense.  Moreover,  the  Christ  of  to-day,  in  the  person 
of  his  follower,  has  often  come  to  me  in  the  garb  of  a 


HOME  AGAIX.  221 

working  man,  but  never  in  priestly  robes-  He  led  me 
down  the  precipice  without  a  word,  pointed  northward 
and  said : 

'*  Walk  in  the  valley  and  you  will  be  safe." 
He  was  gone,  and  I  became  crvruoious  that  I  had  been 
king  popularity,  money,  and  these  were  not  for  me; 
I  UVttst  go  home,  but  tirst  I  would  try  to  repair  the 
•  >SB  incurred  by  that  agent.     I  lectured  in  a  small 
town,  a  nucleus  of  a  Seven  Day  Baptist  settlement, 
and  was  the  guest  of  the  proprietor,  who  had  built  a 
great  many  concrete  walls.     Coming  out  into  a  heavy 
wind,  I  took  acute  inflammation  of  the  lungs.     My 
hostess   gave  me  every    attention;    but   I   must   go 
go  home  for  my  symptoms  were  alarming,  so  took 
the  train  the  next  morning,  with  my  chest  in  wet  com 
presses,  a  viol  of  aconite  in  my  pocket,  and  was  better 
when  by  rail  and  schooner  I  reached  the  house  of  the 
good  Samaritan,  Judge  Wilson,  of  Winona. 

Here  I  was  made  whole,  lectured  in  "Winona  and 
other  towns,  and  got  back  to  St.  Paul  with  more 
money  than  when  I  left.  I  started  for  home  one 
morning  in  a  schooner.  At  one  the  next  morning  our 
craft  settled  down  and  refused  to  go  farther.  The 
snow  was  three  feet  deep;  it  had  been  raining  steadily 
for  twelve  hours,  and  when  the  men  got  out  to  pry 
out  the  runners,  they  went  down,  down,  far  over  their 
knees.  The  driver  and  express  agent  were  booted  for 
such  occasions,  but  the  two  Germans  were  not.  My 
self,  "  these  four  .and  no  more, "  were  down  in  the 
book  of  fate  for  a  struggle  with  inertia.  It  was  muscle 
and  mind  against  matter.  To  the  muscle  I  contributed 
nothing,  but  might  add  something  to  the  common 
stock  of  mind. 


222  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  ar?nt  and  driver  concluded  that  he  should  take 
a  horse  and  go  tc,^u  -^rest  house,  two  miles  back,  to 
get  shovels  to  u.  ^  us  ort  1  aisk-^1  if  there  were  fresh 
horses  and  men  .  f  ttio  iu>use, 

"  No." 

"  How  far  is  it  to  St.  C  'oud?" 

"  Six  miles." 

"  Are  there  fresh  horses  and  men  there F 

"  Oh,  plenty." 

"  If  you  dig  us  out  here,  how  long  will  it  be  before 
we  go  in  again?"  This  they  did  not  know. 

"  Then  had  not  the  driver  better  go  to  St.  Cloud 
with  both  horses?  The  horse  left  here  would  be 
ruined  standing  in  that  slush." 

"But,  madam,"  said  the  agent,  "if  we  do  that  we 
will  have  to  leave  you  here  all  night." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  do  not  see  how  you  are  going  to 
get  rid  of  me." 

So  the  driver  started  with  the  two  horses  on  that 
dreadful  journey;  had  I  known  how  dreadful,  I  should 
have  tried  to  keep  him  till  morning.  As  he  left,  I 
made  the  Germans  draw  off  their  boots  and  pour  out 
the  water,  rub  their  chilled  feet  and  roll  them  up  in  a 
buffalo  robe.  The  agent  lay  on  his  box,  I  cuddled  in 
a  corner,  and  we  all  went  to  sleep  to  the  music  of  the 
patter  of  the  soft  rain  on  our  canvas  cover.  A4  sun 
rise  we  were  waked  by  a  little  army  of  men  and  horses 
and  another  schooner,  into  which  we  passed  by  bridge. 
We  reached  St.  Cloud  in  time  for  breakfast,  and 
were  greeted  by  the  news  that  General  Lowrie  had 
been  sent  home  insane.  He  was  confined  in  his  owii 
house,  and  his  much  envied  young  wife,  with  her  two 
babies,  had  become  an  object  of  pity. 


ARISTOCRACY  OF  THE  WEST.  223 


CHAPTER  XLYIII. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY  f.  F  THE  WEST. 


BEFORE  going  to-Sin  uesota,  I  had  the  common 
Cooper  iciea  of  the  dignity  and  glory  of  the  noble  red 
ttiasTof  the  forest  ;  and  was  especially  impressed  by  his 
unexampled  faithfulness  to  those  pale-faces  who  had 
ever  been  so  fortunate  as  to  eat  salt  with  him.  In 
planning  my  hermitage,  I  had  pictured  the  most 
amicable  relations  with  those  unsophisticated  children 
of  nature,  who  should  never  want  for  salt  while  there 
was  a  spoonful  in  my  barrel.  I  should  win  them  to 
friendships  as  I  had  done  railroad  laborers,  by  caring 
for  their  sick  children,  and  aiding  their  wives.  Indeed, 
I  think  the  Indians  formed  a  large  part  of  the  attrac 
tions  of  my  cabin  by  the  lakes;  and  it  required  consid 
erable  time  and  experience  to  bring  me  to  any  true 
knowledge  of  the  situation,  which  was,  and  is,  this: 

Between  the  Indian  and  white  settler,  rages  the 
world-old,  world-wide  war  of  hereditary  land-owner 
ship  against  those  who  beg  their  brother  man  for  leave 
to  live  and  toil.  "William  Penn  disclaimed  the  right 
of  conquest  as  a  land  title,  while  he  himself  held  an 
English  estate  based  on  that  title,  and  while  every  acre 
of  land  on  the  globe  was  held  by  it.  He  could  not 
recognize  that  title  in-  English  hands,  but  did  in  the 
hands  of  Indians,  and  while  pretending  to  purchase  of 
them  a  conquest  title,  perpetrated  one  of  the  greatest 
swindles  on  record  since  that  by  which  Jacob  won  the 
birthright  of  his  starving  brother. 

This  Penn  swindle  has  been  so  carefully  cloaked 


HALF  A  CENTURY. 

that  it  Iras  become  the  basis  of  our  whole  Indian  poli 
cy,  the  legitimate  parent  of  a  system  never  equalled 
on  earth  for  c.  o  committed  with  the  best  intentions. 
It  intends  to  be  especially  just,  by  holding  that  the 
Creator  made  North  .Arnica  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
savages,  and  that  civilization  con  only  exist  here  by 
sufferance  of  the  proprietors.  This  sufferance  it  ' 
to  purchase  by  engaging  to  support  these  proprietors 
in  absolute  idleness,  fro  m  the  proceeds  of  the  toil  they 
license,  even  as  kings  and  other  landed  aristocrats  are 
supported  by  the  labor  of  their  subjects  and  ten 
ants. 

As  the  successors  of  the  tent-maker  of  Tarsus  have 
for  thirteen  centuries  been  found  on  the  side  of  aristo 
crats  in  every  contest  with  plebians,  so  the  piety  of 
the  East,  controlled  by  men  who  live  without  labor, 
was  and  is  on  the  side  of  the  royal  red  man,  who  has 
a  most  royal  contempt  for  plows,  hoes  and  all  other 
degrading  implements. 

The  same  community  of  interests  which  arrayed  the 
mass  of  the  clergy  on  the  side  of  Southern  slaveholders* 
arrayed  that  same  clergy  on  the  side  of  the  Western  slave 
holder,  and  against  the  men  who  seek,  with  plows  and 
hoes,  to  get  a  living  out  of  the  ground.  Under  this  ar- 
rangment  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  Christian  people 
arrayed  in  open  hostility  to  those  who  plant  Christian 
churches,  schools  and  libraries  on  the  lair  of  the  wolf; 
and  in  alliance  with  the  savage  who  coolly  unjoints  the 
feet  and  hands  of  little  children,  puts  them  in  his  hunt 
ing  pouch  as  evidence  of  his  valor,  and  leaves  the  vic 
tim  to  die  at  leisure;  of  those  who  thrust  Christian 
babies  into  ovens,  and  deliberately  roast  them  to  death ; 


AEISTOCEACY  OF  THE  WEST.  225 

of  those  who  bind  infants,  two  by  two,  by  one  wrist, 
and  throw  them  across  a  fence  to  die;  of  those  who  col 
lect  little  children  in  groups  and  lock  them  up  in  a 
room,  to  wail  out  their  little  lives ;  of  those  who  com 
mit  outrages  on  innocent  men  and  women  which  the 
pen  must  forever  refuse  to  record.  The  apology  with 
which  piety  converts  the  crimes  of  its  pets  into  virtues, 
is  that  its  own  agents  have  failed  to  carry  out  its  own 
contract  with  its  own  friends. 

The  men  and  women  who  take  their  lives  in  their 
hands  to  lead  the  westward  march  of  civilization,  are 
held  as  foes  by  the  main  body  of  the  army,  who  con 
spire  with  the  enemy,  and  hand  them  over  as  scape 
goats  whose  tortures  and  death  are  to  appease  divine 
wrath  for  the  crimes  which  this  same  main  body  say 
it  has  itself  committed  against  Indians. 

No  one  pretends  that  Western  settlers  have  injured 
Indians,  but  Eastern  philanthropists,  through  the  gov 
ernment  they  control,  have,  according  to  their  own 
showing,  been  guilty  of  no  end  of  frauds;  and  as  they 
do  not,  and  cannot,  stop  the  stealing,  they  pay  their 
debts  to  the  noble  red  man  by  licensing  him  to  out 
rage  women,  torture  infants  and  burn  homes.  When 
gold  is  scarce  in  the  East,  they  substitute  scalps  and 
furnish  Indians  with  scalping-knives  by  the  thousand, 
that  they  may  collect  their  dues  at  their  own  con 
venience. 

This  may  seem  to-day  a  bitter  partisan  accusation, 
but  it  must  be  the  calm  verdict  of  history  when  this 
comes  to  be  written  by  impartial  pens. 

Under  the  pretense  that  America  belonged,  in  fee 
simple,  and  by  special  divine  right,  to  that  particular 
15 


226  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

hoard  of  savages,  who,  by  killing  off  some  other  hoard 
of  savages,  were  in  possession  when  Columbus  first 
saw  the  Great  West,  the  Eastern  States,  which  had  al 
ready  secured  their  land  by  conquest,  have  become 
more  implacable  foes  to  civilization  than  the  savages 
themselves. 

The  Quaker  would  form  no  alliance  with  Southern 
slave-holders.  He  recoiled  from  the  sale  of  women  and 
children  in  South  Carolina,  but  covered  with  his  gray 
mantle  of  charity  the  slave  trade  in  Minnesota. 
When  a  settler  refused  to  exchange  his  wife  or  daugh 
ter  with  an  Indian  for  a  pony,  and  that  Indian  massa- 
cered  the  whole  family  to  repair  his  wrongs,  his  Qua 
ker  lawyer  justified  the  act  on  the  score  of  extreme 
provocation,  and  won  triumphal  acquittal  from  the  jury 
of  the  world. 

When  the  Sioux,  after  the  Bull  Run  disaster,  arose 
as  the  allies  of  the  South,  and  butchered  one  thousand 
men,  wromen  and  children  in  Minnesota,  the  Quakers 
and  other  good  people  flew  to  arms  in  their  defense, 
and  carried  public  sentiment  in  their  favor.  The 
agents  of  the  Eastern  people  had  delayed  the  payment 
of  annuity  three  weeks,  and  then  insulted  Mr.  Lo  by 
tendering  him  one-half  his  money  in  government 
bonds,  and  for  this  great  wrong  the  peaceable  Quaker, 
the  humanitarian  Unitarian,  the  orthodox  Congrega- 
tionalist  and  Presbyterian,  the  enthusiastic  Methodist 
and  staid  Baptist,  felt  it  but  right  Mr.  Lo  should  have 
his  revenge. 

Most  Eastern  Christians  are  opposed  to  polygamy 
in  Utah,  and  Fourierism  in  France,  but  in  Minnesota 
among  Indians  these  institutions  are  sacred.  They 


AKISTOCEACY  OF  THE  WEST.  227- 

demanded  that  England  should  by  law  prohibit  wid 
ow-burning  and  other  heathen  customs  in  India,  but 
nothing  so  rude  as  statutes  must  interfere  with  the 
royal  privileges  of  these  Western  landlords.  If  by 
gentle  means  Mr.  Lo  can  be  persuaded  to  stop  tak 
ing  all  the  wives  he  can  get,  extorting  their  labor 
by  the  cudgel,  and  selling  them  and  their  children  at 
will,  all  well  and  good !  Millions  are  expended  on  the 
persuading  business,  and  prayer  poured  out  like  the 
rains  in  Noah's  flood,  without  any  perceptible  ef 
fect;  but  still  they  keep  on  paying  and  praying,  and 
carefully  abstain  from  all  means  at  all  likely  to  ac 
complish  the  desired  result.  All  the  property  of 
every  tribe  must  be  held  in  common,  so  that  there 
can  possibly  be  no  incentive  to  industry  and  econ 
omy;  but  if  the  Indian  refuse  to  be  civilized  on  that 
plan,  he  must  go  on  taking  scalps  and  being  excused, 
until  extermination  solve  the  problem. 

Long  before  I  saw  an  Indian  on  his  native  soil,  the 
U.  S.  Government  had  spent  millions  in  carrying  out 
this  Penn  policy.  For  long  years,  Indians  had  sat 
like  crows,  watching  the  white  farmers  and  artisans 
sent  to  teach  them  industry,  and  had  grunted  their  hon 
est  contempt.  They  watched  the  potato  planting,  that 
they  might  pick  out  the  seed  for  present  use.  They 
pulled  down  fences,  and  turned  their  ponies  into  the 
growing  crops,  used  the  rails  for  fire  wood,  burned 
mills  and  houses  built  for  them,  rolled  barrels  of 
flour  up  steep  acclivities,  started  them  down  and 
shouted  to  see  them  leap  and  the  flour  spurt  through 
the  staves;  knocked  the  heads  out  of  other  barrels, 
and  let  the  ponies  eat  the  flour;  poured  bags  of  corn 


228  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

on  the  ground  when  thasf  wanted  the  bag,  and  in  every 
way  showed  their  contempt  for  the  government,  whose 
policy  they  believed  to  be  the  result  of  cowardice. 
Thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  agricultural  machinery 
lay  "  rotting  in  the  sun"  while  the  noble  red  aristocrat 
played  poker  in  the  shade;  his  original  contempt  for 
labor  intensified  by  his  power  to  extract  a  living  from 
laborers,  through  their  fear  of  his  scalping  knife. 

Hole-in-the-day,  the  Chippewa  chief,  had  been  edu- 
dated  by  Baptist  missionaries,  and  was  a  good  English 
scholar,  but  would  not  condescend  to  speak  to  the  gov 
ernment  except  through  an  interpreter.  For  him  six 
hundred  acres  of  land  had  been  fenced,  and  a  large 
frame  cottage  built  and  painted  white.  In  this  he 
lived  with  six  wives,  and  a  United  States  salary  of 
two  thousand  a  year  and  his  traveling  expenses.  He 
dressed  like  a  white  man,  dined  with  State  officers  in 
St.  Paul,  went  to  church  with  a  lady  on  his  arm,  sat  in 
a  front  pew,  and  was  a  highly  distinguished  gentleman 
of  the  scalping  school. 

i- 

CHAPTEE    XLIX. 

THE   INDIAN   MASSACRE   OF   '62. 

THE  Indians  had  been  ugly  from  the  first  outbreak  of 
the  Rebellion,  and  Commissioner  Dole,  with  Senator 
"Wilkinson,  had  come  out  to  pacify  them.  The  party 
passed  through  St.  Cloud,  and  had  camped  several 
miles  west,  when  in  the  night  there  came  up  one  of 
those  sudden  storms  peculiar  to  this  land.  Their  tents 
were  whisked  away  like  autumn  leaves,  and  they  left 


INDIAN  MASSACRE  OF  '62.  229 

clinging  to  such  productions  of  mother  nature  as  were 
at  hand,  well  rooted  in  her  bosom,  to  avoid  a  witches' 
dance  in  the  air.  But  it  grew  worse  when  the  rain  had 
covered  the  level  ground  six  inches  deep  in  water,  and 
they  must  keep  their  heads  above  the  surface. 

They  returned  to  St.  Cloud  in  the  morning  in  sorry 
plight,  and  the  delay  \vas  one  of  the  injuries  to  the 
poor  Indians,  and  counted  as  sufficient  justification  for 
the  subsequent  massacre.  The  delay,  however,  saved 
their  lives.  The  messenger  who  aroused  the  people 
of  St.  Cloud  in  the  small  hours  was  traveling  post  after 
this  Dole  commission,  for  whose  safety  there  was 
much  anxiety,  but  none  for  St.  Cloud,  since  the  In 
dians  would  not  attack  us  while  there  were  two  com 
panies  of  soldiers  in  town.  True,  they  were  unarmed, 
but  surely  arms  would  be  sent  and  their  marching  or 
ders  rescinded.  The  outbreak  was  mysterious.  It  was 
of  course  in  the  interests  of  the  South,  and  meant  to 
prevent  the  troops  leaving  the  State;  but  why  had  not 
the  tribes  struck  together? 

The  answer  was  that  after  the  massacre  had  been  ar 
ranged  in  council,  two  Sioux  visited  a  white  family  in 
which  they  had  often  been  entertained,  were  drunk,  and 
could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  butcher  their  entertain 
ers.  This  precipitated  the  attack,  for  so  soon  as  the 
news  reached  the  tribe,  they  went  to  work  to  execute 
their  bloody  purpose. 

Johnson,  a  converted  Chippewa,  hurried  to  inform  us 
that  his  tribe  with  Hole-in-the-day  in  council  had 
resolved  to  join  the  Sioux  and  were  to  have  made  St. 
Cloud  their  base  of  operations,  but  the  Sioux  had 
broken  out  before  the  arms  and  ammunition  came,  and 


230  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

these  they  were  hourly  expecting.  On  the  same  day 
a  formal  message  came  from  Hole-in- the-day  that 
Commissioner  Dole  must  come  to  the  reservation 
to  confer  with  his  young  braves,  who  would  await  his 
arrival  ten  days,  after  which  time  their  great  chief 
declined  to  be  responsible  for  them. 

A  runner  arrived  from  Ft.  Abercrombie,  who'Jhad  es 
caped  by  crawling  through  the  grass,  and  reported  the 
Fort  besieged  by  a  thousand  savages,  and  quite  unpre 
pared  for  defense.  There  were  several  St.  Cloud  people 
in  the  Fort,  and  so  far  from  expecting  aid  from  it  it 
must  be  relieved.  The  garrison  at  Ft.  Ripley  had  not 
a  man  to  spare  for  outside  defense.  People  began  to 
pour  into  St.  Cloud  with  tales  of  horror  to  freeze  the 
blood,  and  the  worst  reports  were  more  than  confirmed. 
The  victorious  Sioux  had  undisputed  possession  of  the 
whole  country  west,  southwest  and  northwest  of  us,  up 
to  within  twelve  miles  of  the  city,  and  had  left  few  peo 
ple  to  tell  tales.  Our  troops  spent  their  time  teaching 
women  and  children  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  hoping 
for  arms  and  orders  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Abercrom 
bie.  There  was  no  telegraph,  and  the  last  mail  left  no  al 
ternative  but  to  start  for  Fort  Snelling,  with  such  short 
time  to  get  there  that  every  available  man  and  horse 
must  go  to  hurry  them  forward.  They  left  in  the 
afternoon,  and  that  was  a  dreadful  night.  Many  of 
the  more  timid  women  had  gone  east,  but  of  those  that 
remained  some  paced  the  streets,  wringing  their  hands 
and  sobbing  out  their  fear  and  despair  and  sorrow  for 
the  husbands  and  brothers  and  sons  taken  from  them 
at  such  a  crisis. 

When  the  troops  left,  we  thought  there  were  no  more 


INDIAN  MASSACRE  OF  '62.  231 

men  in  St.  Cloud,  but  next  morning  found  a  dozen, 
counting  the  boys,  who  were  organized  to  go  out  west 
to  the  rescue  of  settlers,  and  still  there  were  some 
guards  and  pickets,  and  some  who  did  nothing  but 
find  fault  with  everything  any  one  else  did. 

Men  and  women  spoke  with  stiffened  lips  and 
blanched  faces.  Families  in  the  outskirts  gathered  to 
more  central  places,  and  there  were  forty-two  women 
and  children  in  my  house  the  night  after  the  troops 
left,  and  for  every  night  for  weeks.  We  kept  large 
kettles  of  boiling  water  as  one  means  of  defense.  I 
always  had  the  watchword,  and  often  at  midnight  I 
would  go  out  to  see  that  the  pickets  were  on  duty,  and 
report  to  the  women  that  all  was  well.  Brother  Har 
ry  was  appointed  General  of  State  troops,  succeeding 
Gen.  Lowrie,  and  arms  were  sent  to  him  for  distribu 
tion,  while  women  kept  muskets  by  them  and  prac 
ticed  daily.  The  office  of  my  democratic  contempora 
ry  was  closed,  and  he  fled  to  New  England,  while  his 
assistant  went  with  my  only  male  assistant  to  rescue 
settlers.  I  had  two  young  ladies  in  the  office,  one  a 
graduate  of  a  New  York  high  school,  and  through  all 
the  excitement  they  kept  at  work  as  coolly  as  at  any 
other  time.  "We  got  out  the  paper  regularly,  and  pub 
lished  many  extras. 

The  history  of  the  horrors  and  heroisms  which 
reached  us  during  the  six  weeks  in  which  Ft.  Aber- 
crombie  held  out  until  relief  came,  would  make  a  vol 
ume,  and  cannot  be  written  here.  The  unimaginable 
tortures  and  indecencies  inflicted  on  brave  men  and 
good  women,  are  something  for  which  the  Christian 
supporters  and  excusers  of  the  Sioux  must  yet  account 


232  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

at  the  bar  where  sentimental  sympathy  with  crimi 
nals  is  itself  a  crime;  and  where  the  wail  of  tortured 
infants  will  not  be  hushed  by  reckoning  of  bad  beef 
and  a  deficiency  in  beans. 

"While  the  Sioux  sat  in  council  to  determine  that 
butchery,  some  objected,  on  the  ground  that  such  crimes 
would  be  punished,  but  Little  Crow,  leader  of  the  war 
party,  quieted  their  fears  by  saying: 

"White  man  no  like  Indian!  Indian  catch  white 
man,  roast  him,  kill  him!  "White  man  catch  Indian, 
feed  him,  give  him  blankets,"  and  on  this  assurance 
they  acted. 

I  One  thing  was  clearly  proven  by  that  outbreak,  viz. : 
that  services  to,  and  friendship  for,  Indians,  are  the 
best  means  of  incurring  their  revenge.  Those  fami 
lies  who  had  been  on  most  intimate  terms  with  them, 
were  those  who  were  massacred  first  and  with  the 
greatest  atrocities.  The  more  frequently  they  had 
eaten  salt  with  a  pale-face,  the  more  insatiable  was 
their  desire  for  vengeance.  The  missionaries  were 
generally  spared,  as  the  source  through  which  they  ex 
pected  pardon  and  supplies.  The  Indian  was  much 
too  cunning  to  kill  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  egg. 
The  tribe  do  not  object  to  the  conversion  of  individu 
als.  Saying  prayers  does  not  interfere  with  their 
ideas  of  their  own  importance.  Preachers  do  not 
labor  with  their  hands,  and  Indians  can  join  the  cleri 
cal  order  or  get  religion,  without  losing  caste,  for  la 
bor  to  them  is  pollution. 

Two  wagon  loads  of  arms  and  ammunition  en  route  for 
Hole-in -the-day,  were  intercepted  during  the  massacre, 
and  for  want  of  them  he  was  induced  to  keep  quiet 


A  MISSIVE  AND  A  MISSION.  233 

For  being  such  a  good  Indian,  he  had  a  triumphal 
trip  to  Washington  at  government  expense,  got  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  a  seventh  wife. 


CHAPTEB  L. 

A   MISSIVE   AND   A   MISSION. 

SOON  after  the  people  had  returned  to  such  homes 
as  were  left  them,  I  received  a  letter  from  General 
Lowrie,  who  was  then  in  an  insane  asylum  in  Cincin 
nati.  I  caught  his  humor  and  answered  as  carefully 
as  if  he  had  been  a  sick  brother,  gave  an  extract  in 
the  Democrat,  accompanied  by  a  notice,  and  sent  him 
a  copy;  after  which  he  wrote  frequently,  and  I  tried 
earnestly  to  soothe  him.  In  one  of  his  letters  was  this 
passage: 

"  Your  quarrel  and  mine  was  all  wrong.  There 
was  no  one  in  that  upper  country  capable  of  under 
standing  you  but  me,  no  one  capable  of  understand 
ing  me,  but  you.  "We  should  have  been  friends,  and 
would  have  been,  if  we  had  not  each  had  a  self  which  we 
were  all  too  anxious  to  defend." 

After  the  Sioux  had  finished  their  work  of  horror, 
Minnesota  men,  aided  by  volunteers  from  Iowa  and 
Wisconsin,  pursued  and  captured  the  murderers  of  one 
thousand  men,  women  and  children;  tried  them,  found 
them  guilty,  and  proposed  to  hang  them  just  as  if  they 
had  been  white  murderers.  But  when  the  general 
government  interfered  and  took  the  prisoners  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  State  authorities,  and  when  it  became 
evident  that  Eastern  people  endorsed  the  massacre  and 


234  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

condemmed  the  victims  as  sinners  who  deserved  their 
fate,  one  of  the  State  officers  proposed  that  I  should  go 
East,  try  to  counteract  the  vicious  public  sentiment, 
and  aid  our  Congressional  delegation  in  their  effort 
to  induce  the  Administration  either  to  hang  the  Sioux 
murderers,  or  hold  them  as  hostages  during  the  war. 

To  me  this  was  a  providential  call,  for  I  had  been 
planning  to  make  a  home  in  the  East,  that  our  daugh 
ter,  then  old  enough  to  live  without  me,  might  spend 
a  portion  of  her  time  with  her  father. 

With  letters  from  all  our  State  officers,  I  left  my 
Minnesota  home  at  four  o'clock  A.  M.,  January  2nd, 
'63,  leaving  the  Democrat  in  charge  of  my  first  ap 
prentice,  William  B.  Mitchell. 

In  Washington,  the  Minnesota  delegation  secured 
the  use  of  Dr.  Sutherland's  church,  and  a  packed  audi 
ence  for  my  lecture  on  Indians.  It  was  enthusiasti 
cally  applauded,  and  for  a  time  I  did  hope  for  some  se 
curity  for  women  and  children  on  the  frontier;  but  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  assured  me  it  was  not  worth 
while^to  see  the  President,  for  "  Mr.  Lincoln  will  hang 
nobody!"  and  our  Minnesota  delegation  agreed  with 
him.  Indeed,  there  was  such  a  furor  of  pious  pity 
for  the  poor  injured  Sioux,  such  admiration  for  their 
long  suffering  patience  under  wrong,  and  final  heroic 
resistance,  that  I  might  about  as  well  have  tried  to 
row  myself  from  the  head  of  Goat  Island  up  the  rap 
ids  of  Niagara,  as  stem  that  current.  The  ring  which 
makes  money  by  caudling  Indians,  had  the  ear  of  both 
President  and  people,  and  the  Bureau  had  a  paying  con 
tract  in  proving  Little  Crow's  sagacity.  The  Sioux 
never  were  so  well  supplied  with  blankets  and  butch- 


A  MISSIVE  AND  A  MISSION.  235 

er-knives,  as  when  they  received  their  reward  for  that 
massacre;  never  had  so  many  prayers  said  and  hymns 
sung  over  them,  and  their  steamboat  ride  down  the 
Minnesota  and  Mississippi  and  np  the  Missouri,  to  a 
point  within  two  days'  walk  of  the  scene  of  their  ex 
ploits,  furnished  them  an  excursion  of  about  two 
thousand  miles,  and  left  them  well  prepared  for  future 
operations.  They  appreciated  their  good  fortune, 
have  been  a  terror  to  United  States  troops  and  Western 
settlers  ever  since,  and  have  enjoyed  their  triumph  to 
the  full-. 

One  morning  Senator  Wilkinson  and  I  went  to  see 
the  President,  and  in  the  vestibule  of  the  White  House 
met  two  gentlemen  whom  he  introduced  as  Sec.  Stan- 
ton  and  Gen.  Fremont.  The  first  said  he  needed  no 
introduction,  and  I  said  I  had  asked  Senator  Wilkin 
son  to  see  him  on  my  account.  He  replied : 

"  Do  not  ask  any  one  to  see  me!  If  you  want  any 
thing  from  me,  come  yourself.  No  one  can  have  more 
influence." 

Gen.  Fremont  inquired  where  I  was  staying,  and 
'said  he  would  call  on  me.  This  frightened  me,  and  I 
felt  like  running  away.  But  they  were  so  kind  and 
cordial  that  our  short  chat  is  a  pleasant  memory;  but 
Mr.  Wilkinson  and  I  failed  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln.  Next 
day  Sec.  Stanton  gave  me  an  appointment  in  the 
Quarter  Master  General's  office,  but  there  was  no 
place  for  me  to  go  to  work. 

Gen.  Fremont  called  at  the  houses  of  two  friends 
where  I  was  visiting,  but  both  times  I  was  absent. 
In  1850  I  had  also  missed  the  calls  of  his  wife  and  sis 
ter,  and  so  I  seemed  destined  never  to  meet  the  peo 
ple  I  admired  above  all  others. 


236  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

My  friends  wished  me  to  attend  a  Presidential  re 
ception  ;  but  it  was  useless  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the 
business  which  brought  me  to  "Washington,  and  I  did 
not  care  to  see  him  on  any  other.  He  had  proved  an 
obstructionist  instead  of  an  abolitionist,  and  I  fek  no 
respect  for  him ;  while  his  wife  was  every  where  spoken 
of  as  a  Southern  woman  with  Southern  sympathies — a 
conspirator  against  the  Union.  I  wanted  nothing  to 
do  with  the  occupants  of  the  White  House,  but  was 
told  I  could  go  and  see  the  spectacle  without  being 
presented.  So  I  went  in  my  broadcloth  traveling 
dress,  and  lest  there  should  be  trouble  about  my  early 
leave-taking,  would  not  trust  my  cloak  to  the  servants, 
but  walked  through  the  hall  with  it  over  my  arm.  I 
watched  the  President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  receive.  His 
sad,  earnest,  honest  face  was  irresistible  in  its  plea  for 
confidence,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln's  manner  was  so  simple 
and  motherly,  so  unlike  that  of  all  Southern  women  I 
had  seen,  that  I  doubted  the  tales  I  had  heard.  Her 
head  was  not  that  of  a  conspirator.  She  would  be  in 
capable  of  a  successful  deceit,  and  whatever  her  pur 
poses  were,  they  must  be  known  to  all  who  knew  her. 

Mr.  Lincoln  stood  going  through  one  of  those, 
dreadful  ordeals  of  hand-shaking,  working  like  a  man 
pumping  for  life  on  a  sinking  vessel,  and  I  was  filled 
with  indignation  for  the  selfish  people  who  made  this 
useless  drain  on  his  nervous  force.  I  wanted  to  stand 
between  him  and  them,  and  say,  "  stand  back,  and  let 
him  live  and  do  his  work."  But  I  could  not  resist  going 
to  him  with  the  rest  of  the  crowd,  and  when  he^took 
my  hand  I  said: 

"  May  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  you,  poor  man,  for 
the  people  have  none." 


A  MISSIVE  AND  A  MISSION.  237 

He  laughed  heartily,  and  the  men  around  him, 
joined  in  his  merriment.  When  I  came  to  Mrs.  Lin 
coln,  she  did  not  catch  the  name  at  first,  and  asked  to 
hear  it  again,  then  repeated  it,  and  a  sudden  glow  of 
pleasure  lit  her  face,  as  she  held  out  her  hand  and  said 
how  very  glad  she  was  to  see  me.  I  objected  to  giv 
ing  her  my  hand  because  my  black  glove  would  soil  her 
white  one;  but  she  said: 

"  Then  I  shall  preserve  the  glove  to  remember  a 
great  pleasure,  for  I  have  long  wished  to  see  you." 

My  escort  was  more  surprised  than  I  by  her  unusu 
al  cordiality,  and  said  afterwards: 

"  It  was  no  polite  affectation.  I  cannot  understand 
it  from  her." 

I  understood  at  once  that  I  had  met  one  with  whom 
I  was  in  sympathy.  'No  politeness  could  have  sum 
moned  that  sudden  flash  of  pleasure.  Her  manner 
was  too  simple  and  natural  to  have  any  art  in  it;  and 
why  should  she  have  pretended  a  friendship  she  did 
not  feel?  Abolitionists  were  at  a  discount.  They  had 
gone  like  the  front  ranks  of  the  French  cavalry  at 
Waterloo,  into  the  sunken  way,  to  make  a  bridge,  over 
which  moderate  men  were  rushing  to  honors  and 
emoluments.  Gideon's  army  had  done  its  work,  and 
given  place  to  the  camp  followers,  who  gathered  up 
the  spoils  of  victory.  ISTone  were  so  poor  that  they 
need  do  them  reverence,  and  I  recognized  Mrs.  Lin 
coln  as  a  loyal,  liberty -loving  woman,  more  staunch 
even  than  her  husband  in  opposition  to  the  Kebellion 
and  its  cause,  and  as  my  very  dear  friend  for  life. 


238  HALF  A  CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

NO  USE  FOR  ME  AMONG  THE  WOUNDED. 

I  HAD  not  thought,  even  after  deciding  to  remain  in 
Washington,  of  doing  any  hospital  work — knew  noth 
ing  about  it;  and  in  strength  was  more  like  a  patient 
than  a  nurse;  but  while  I  waited  for  a  summons  to  go 
to  the  duties  of  my  clerkship,  I  met  some  ladies  inter 
ested  in  hospitals. 

One  of  these,  Mrs.  Thayer,  had  an  ambulance  at  her 
command,  and  took  me  for  a  day's  visiting  among  the 
forts,  on  a  day  when  it  was  known  that  our  armies 
in  Virginia  were  engaged  with  the  enemy.  The  roads 
were  almost  impassable,  and  as  a  skillful  driver  and 
two  good  horses  used  their  best  efforts  to  take  us  from 
place  to  place,  I  felt  like  a  thief;  that  ambulance  ought 
to  be  at  the  front,  and  us  with  it,  or  on  our  knees 
pleading  for  the  men  whose  breasts  were  a  living  wall 
between  us  and  danger,  between  Liberty  and  her 
deadly  foes. 

The  men  in  the  forts  had  no  special  need  of  us, 
and  sometimes  their  thanks  for  the  tracts  we  brought 
them,  gave  an  impulse  to  strike  them  square  in  the 
face,  but  Mrs.  Thayer  was  happy  in  her  work,  and 
thought  me  uncivil  to  her  friends. 

We  reached  the  last  fort  on  our  round  before  I  saw 
anything  interesting;  and  here  a  sorrowful  woman 
drew  me  aside  to  tell  me  of  the  two  weeks  she  had 
spent  with  her  husband,  now  in  the  last  stage  of  camp- 
fever,  and  of  her  fruitless  efforts  to  get  sufficient  straw 
for  his  bed,  while  the  bones  were  cutting  through  the 


No  USE  FOK  ME  AMONG  THE  WOUNDED.      239 

skin  as  lie  lay  on  the  slats  of  his  cot.  She  wrung  her 
hands  in  a  strange,  suppressed  agony,  and  exclaimed 
"  Oh !  If  they  had  only  let  me  take  him  home  when  I 
came  first;  but  say  nothing  here,  or  they  will  not  let 
me  stay." 

I  verified  her  statement  of  her  husband's  condition, 
so  that  I  could  speak  from  observation  without  com 
promising  her,  and  spoke  to  the  surgeon,  who  politely 
regretted  the  scarcity  of  straw,  and  hoped  to  get  some 
soon. 

I  returned  to  the  sufferer,  who  was  from  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  a  very  intelligent  man;  and  after  talking 
with  him  and  his  wife,  concluded  to  look  up  the  com 
mander  of  that  fort,  and  put  some  powder  and  alight 
ed  match  into  his  ear;  but  first  consulted  Mrs.  Thayer, 
who  begged  me  to  take  no  notice,  else  she  would  no 
longer  be  permitted  to  visit  the  fort.  She  had  intro 
duced  me  to  two  fashionably  dressed  ladies,  officers' 
wifes,  resident  there;  and  when  I  must  say  or  do 
nothing  about  this  man,  lest  I  should  destroy  Mrs. 
Thayer's  opportunity  for  doing  good,  I  concluded  we 
had  discovered  a  new  variety  of  savage,  and  came  away 
thinking  I  could  do  something  in  the  city. 

Next  morning  I  stated  the  case  to  Miss  Dix,  who 
was  neither  shocked  nor  surprised.  I  had  never  before 
seen  her,  but  her  tall,  angular  person,  very  red  face, 
and  totally  unsympathetic  manner,  chilled  me.  The 
best  ambulance  in  the  service  was  exclusively  devoted 
to  her  use,  and  I  thought  she  would  surely  go  or  send 
a  bed  to  that  man  before  noon ;  but  she  proposed  to 
do  nothing  of  the  kind,  had  engagements  for  the  day, 
which  seemed  to  me  of  small  import  compared  to  that 


240  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

of  placing  that  man  on  a  comfortable  bed;  but  she 
could  do  nothing  that  day,  by  reason  of  these  engage 
ments,  and  nothing  next  day,  it  being  Sunday,  on 
which  day  she  attended  to  no  business.  We  spoke  of 
the  great  battle  then  in  progress,  and  I  tendered  my 
services,  could  take  no  regular  appointment,  would 
want  no  pay,  could  not  work  long;  but  might  be  of 
use  in  an  emergency!  Emergencies  were  things  of 
which  she  had  no  conception.  Everything  in  her 
world  moved  by  rule,  and  her  arrangements  were  com 
plete.  She  had  sent  eight  nurses  to  the  front,  and 
more  could  only  be  in  the  way, 

I  inquired  about  hospital  supplies,  and  she  grew  al 
most  enthusiastic  in  explaining  the  uselessness,  nay, 
absurdity,  of  sending  any.  Government  furnished 
everything  that  could  possibly  be  wanted.  The  Sani 
tary  and  Christian  Commissions  were  all  a  mistake; 
Soldiers'  Aid  Societies  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  She 
was  burdened  with  stores  sent  to  her  for  which  there 
was  no  use;  and  she  hoped  Iwould  use  my  influence  to 
stop  the  business  of  sending  supplies. 

From  her  I  went  direct  to  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
and  found  a  large  house  full  of  salaried  clerks  and  por 
ters,  and  boxes,  and  bales,  although  this  was  not  their 
storehouse. 

Here  again  I  stated  the  case  of  the  man  without  a 
bed,  and  found  listeners  neither  surprised  nor  shocked. 
Every  one  seemed  quite  familiar  with  trifles  of  that 
nature,  and  by  and  by,  I,  too,  would  look  upon  them 
with  indifference. 

I  do  not  remember  whether  it  was  Saturday  engage 
ments,  or  Sunday  sanctity,  or  lack  of  jurisdiction, 


No  USE  FOK  ME  AMOXG-  THE  WOUNDED.      2-il 

which  barred  the  Commission  from  interference;  but 
think  they  must  wait  until  the  fort  surgeon  sent  a 
requisition. 

I  inquired  here  about  hospital  stores,  and  found 
there  was  great  demand  for  everything,  especially 
money.  They  declined  my  services  in  every  capacity 
save  that  of  inducing  the  public  to  hurry  forward 
funds  and  supplies.  I  told  them  of  Miss  Dix's  opin 
ion  on  that  subject,  and  they  agreed  that  it  was  quite 
useless  to  send  anything  to  her,  since  she  used  nothing 
she  received,  and  would  not  permit  any  one  else  to  use 
stores. 

Late  in  the  next  week  Mrs.  Thayer  came,  in  great 
tribulation,  to  know  how  I  ever  could  have  done  so 
foolish  and  useless  a  thing  as  report  that  case  to  Miss 
Dix!  Oh  dear!  Oh  dear!  It  was  so  unwise! 

Miss  Dix  had  gone  to  the  fort  on  Monday,  taken 
the  surgeon  to  task  about  that  bed,  gave  me  as  her  au 
thority,  and  for  me  Mrs.  Thayer  was  responsible,  and 
would  be  excluded  from  that  fort  on  account  of  my  in 
discretion.  There  was  another  standing  quarrel  be 
tween  the  directress  of  nurses  and  the  surgeons.  The 
bitterness  engendered  would  all  be  visited  upon  the 
patients,  and  it  was  so  deplorable  to  think  I  had  been 
so  imprudent. 

Her  distress  was  so.  real,  and  she  was  so  real  in  her 
desire  to  do  good,  that  I  felt  myself  quite  a  culprit, 
especially  as  the  man  got  no  bed,  and  died  on  his 
slats. 

I  was  so  lectured  and  warned  about  the  sin  of  this, 
my  first  offense,  in  telling  that  which  "  folk  wad  secret 
keep"  in  hospital  management,  that  I  was  afraid  to 
16 


242  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

go  to  another,  lest  I. should  get  some  one  into  trouble; 
so  stayed  at  home  while  the  Washington  hospitals 
were  being  filled  with  wounded  from  the  battle  of 
Chancellorville.  I  think  it  was  the  afternoon  of  the 
second  Sabbath  that  I  went  with  Mrs.  Kelsey  to  visit 
Campbell,  to  get  material  for  a  letter,  and  tendered  my 
services,  but  their  arrangements  were  complete.  Pass 
ing  through  the  wards  it  did  indeed  seem  as  if  noth 
ing  was  wanting. 

As  a  matter  of  form,  I  asked  James  Bride,  of  Wis 
consin,  if  there  was  anything  I  could  do  for  him,  was 
surprised  to  see  him  hesitate,  and  astounded  to  have 
him  answer: 

"  Well,  nothing  particular,  unless — "  he  stopped 
and  picked  at  the  coverlid — "  unless  you  could  get  us 
something  to  quench  thirst." 

"  Something  to  quench  thirst?  Why,  I  have  been 
told  you  have  everything  you  can  possibly  require!" 

"  Well,  they  are  very  good  to  us,  and  do  all  they 
can;  but  it  gets  very  hot  in  here  in  the  afternoons, 
we  cannot  go  out  into  the  shade,  and  get  so  thirsty. 
Drinking  so  much  water  makes  us  sick,  and  if  we  had 
something  a  little  sour! " 

"  But,  would  they  let  me  bring  you  anything?" 

"  O  yes!     I  see  ladies  bring  things  every  day." 

"  Then  I  shall  be  glad  to  bring  you  something  to- 


FIND  WOKE.  243 

CHAPTEE   LII. 

FIND   WOEK. 

THAT  evening  I  wrote  to  tlie  New  York  Tribune^ 
relating  the  incident  of  the  man  asking  for  cooling 
drinks,  and  saying  that  if  people  furnished  the  mate 
rial,  I  would  devote  my  time  to  distributing  their  gifts. 
J^ext  morning  I  got  two  dozen  lemons,  pressed  the 
juice  into  a  jar,  put  in  sugar,  took  a  glass  and  spoon 
and,  so  soon  as  visitors  wrere  admitted,  began  giving 
lemonade  to  those  men  who  seemed  to  have  most  need. 
Going  to  the  water  tank  for  every  glass  of  water  made 
it  slow  work,  but  I  improved  my  w^alks  by  talking  to 
the  men,  hearing  their  wants  and  adding  to  their  stock 
of  hope  and  cheerfulness,  and  was  glad  to  see  that  the 
nurses  did  not  seem  to  object  to  my  presence,  even 
though  Campbell  was  the  one  only  hospital  in  the 
city  from  which  female  nurses  were  rigorously  ex 
cluded. 

So  noted  had  it  become  for  the  masculine  pride  of 
its  management,  that  I  had  been  warned  not  to  stay 
past  the  length  of  an  ordinary  visit,  lest  I  should  be 
roughly  told  to  go  away;  and  my  surprise  was  equal 
to  my  pleasure,  when  a  man  came  and  said: 

"  Would  it  not  be  easier  for  you  if  you  had  a  pitch 
er?" 

I  said  it  would,  but  that  I  lived  too  far  away  to 
bring  one. 

"Oh!  I  will  bring  you  a  pitcher!  Why  did  you 
not  ask  for  one?" 

"  I  did  not  want  to  trouble  you,  for  they  told  me 
you  did  not  like  to  have  women  here." 


HALF  A  CENTUET. 

He  laughed,  and  said:  "I  guess  we'll  all  be  glad 
enough  to  Lave  yon!  Not  many  of  your  sort.  First 
thing  they  all  do  is  to  begin  to  make  trouble,  and  it 
always  takes  two  men  to  wait  on  one  of  them." 

He  brought  the  pitcher,  and  I  felt  that  I  was  getting 
on  in  the  world.  Still  I  was  very  humble  and  careful 
to  win  the  favor  of  "  the  King's  Chamberlain  " — those 
potencies,  the  nurses,  who  might  report  me  to  that 
Royal  woman-hater,  Dr.  Baxter,  surgeon  in  charge, 
whose  name  was  a  terror  to  women  who  intruded 
themselves  into  military  hospitals. 

As  I  passed,  with  my  pitcher,  I  saw  one  man  dele- 
rious,  and  expectorating,  profusely,  a  matter  green  as 
grass  could  be — knew  this  was  hospital  gangrene,  and 
remembered  all  Dr.  Palmer  had  told  me  years  before, 
of  his  experience  in  Paris  hospitals,  and  the  antidotes 
to  that  and  scurvey  poison.  Indeed,  the  results  of  many 
conversations  with  first-class  physicians,  and  of  some 
reading  on  the  subject  of  camp  diseases,  came  to  me; 
and  I  knew  just  what  was  wanted  here,  but  saw  no 
sign  that  the  want  was  likely  to  be  supplied.  For  this 
man  it  was  too  late,  but  I  could  not  see  that  anything 
was  being  done  to  prevent  the  spread  of  this  fearful 
scourge. 

Passing  from  that  ward  into  the  one  adjoining,  I 
came  suddenly  upon  two  nurses  dressing  a  thigh 
stump,  while  the  patient  filled  the  air  with  half-sup 
pressed  shrieks  and  groans.  I  had  never  before  seen 
a  stump,  but  remembered  Dr.  Jackson's  lecture  over 
the  watermellon  at  desert,  on  amputation,  for  the  bene 
fit  of  Charles  Sumner;  and  electricity  never  brought 
light  quicker  than  there  came  to  me  the  memory  of  all 


FIND  WOKK.  245 

lie  had  said  about  the  proper  arrangement  of  the  mus 
cles  over  the  end  of  the  bone;  and  added  to  this,  came 
a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  relations  of  those  mangled 
muscles  to  the  general  form  of  the  body.  I  saw  that 
the  nurse  who  held  the  stump  tortured  the  man  by 
disregarding  natural  lav/,  and  setting  down  pitcher  and 
glass  on  the  floor,  I  stepped  up,  knelt,  slipped  my 
hands  under  the  remains  of  that  strong  thigh,  and  said 
to  the  man  who  held  it: 

"  Now,  slip  out  your  hands  !  easy!  easy!  there! " 

The  instant  it  rested  on  my  hands  the  groans  ceased, 
and  I  said: 

" Is  that  better?" 

"Oh,  my  God!  yes!" 

"Well,  then,  I  will  always  hold  it  when  it  is 
dressed ! " 

"  But  you  will  not  be  here! " 

"I  will  come!" 

"That  would  be  too  much  trouble!" 

"  I  have  nothing  else  to  do,  and  will  think  it  no 
trouble!" 

The  nurse,  who  did  the  dressing,  was  very  gentle, 
and  there  was  no  more  pain ;  but  I  saw  that  the  other 
leg  was  amputated  below  the  knee,  and  this  was  a 
double  reason  why  he  should  be  tenderly  cared  for. 
So  I  took  the  nurse  aside,  and  asked  when  the  wounds 
were  to  be  dressed  again.  He  said  in  the  morning, 
and  promised  to  wait  until  I  came  to  help.  Next 
morning  I  was  so  much  afraid  of  being  late  that  I 
would  not  wait  for  the  street  cars  to  begin  running, 
but  walked.  The  guard  objected  to  admitting  me,  as 
it  was  not  time  for  visitors,  but  I  explained  and  he 
let  me  pass. 


24:6  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

I  must  not  go  through  the  wards  at  that  hour,  so 
went  around  and  came  in  by  the  door  near  which  he 
lay.  What  was  my  surprise  to  find  that  not  only  were 
his  wounds  dressed,  but  that  all  his  clothing  and  bed 
had  been  changed,  and  everything  about  him  made  as 
white  and  neat  and  square  as  if  he  were  a  corpse, 
which  he  more  resembled  than  a  living  man.  Oh, 
what  a  tribute  of  agony  he  had  paid  to  the  demon  of 
appearance!  "We  all  pay  heavy  taxes  to  other  people's 
eyes;  but  on  none  is  the  levy  quite  so  onerous  as  on 
the  patients  of  a  model  hospital!  I  saw  that  he 
breathed  and  slept,  and  knew  his  time  was  short;  but 
sought  the  head  nurse,  and  asked  why  he  had  not 
waited  for  me;  he  hesitated,  stammered,  blushed  and 
said: 

"  Why,  the  fact  is,  sister,  he  has  another  wound 
that  it  would  not  be  pleasant  for  you  to  see." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  that  man  has  a  groin  wound 
in  addition  to  all  else?" 

"Yes,  sister!  yes!  and  I  thought — " 

"  ~No  matter  what  you  thought,  you  have  tortured 
him  to  save  your  mock-modesty  and  mine.  You 
could  have  dressed  that 'other  wound,  covered  him,  and 
let  me  hold  the  stump.  You  saw  what  relief  it  gave 
him  yesterday.  How  could  you  —  how  dare  you 
torture  him?" 

"  Well,  sister,  I  have  been  in  hospitals  with  sisters 
a  great  deal,  and  they  never  help  to  dress  wounds.  I 
thought  you  would  not  get  leave  to  come.  Would  not 
like  to." 

"  I  am  not  a  sister,  I  am  a  mother;  and  that  man 
had  suffered  enough.  Oh,  how  dared  you?  how  dared 
you  to  do  such  a  thing?" 


FIND  WOEK.  247 

I  wrung  my  hands,  and  he  trembled  like  a  leaf,  and 
said. 

"  It  was  wrong,  but  I  did  not  know.  I  never  saw 
a  sister  before — " 

"  I  tell  you  I  am  no  sister,  and  I  cannot  think  what 
ever  your  sisters  are  good  for." 

He  promised  to  let  me  help  him  whenever  it  would 
save  pain,  and  I  returned  to  the  dying  man.  The  sun 
shone  and  birds  sang.  He  stirred,  opened  his  eyes, 
smiled  to  see  me,  and  said. 

"  It  is  a  lovely  morning,  and  I  will  soon  be  gone." 

I  said,  "Yes;  the  winter  of  your  life  is  past;  for 
you  the  reign  of  sorrow  is  over  and  gone;  the  spring 
time  appears  on  the  earth,  and  the  time  for  the  sing 
ing  of  birds  has  come;  your  immortal  summer  is  close 
at  hand;  Christ,  who  loveth  us,  and  has  suffered  for  us, 
has  prepared  mansions  of  rest,  for  those  who  love  him, 
and  you  are  going  soon." 

"  Oh,  yes;  I  know  he  will  take  me  home,  and  pro 
vide  for  my  wife  and  children  when  I  am  gone." 

"  Then  all  is  well  with  you! "  He  told  me  his  name 
and  residence,  in  Pittsburg,  and  I  remembered  that 
his  parents  lived  our  near  neighbors  when  I  was  a 
child.  So,  more  than  ever,  I  regretted  that  I  could 
not  have  made  his  passage  through  the  dark  valley 
one  of  less  pain;  but  it  was  a  comfort  to  his  wife  to 
know  I  had  been  with  him. 

"When  he  slept  again,  I  got  a  slightly  wounded  man 
to  sit  by  him  and  keep  away  the  flies,  while  I  went  to 
distribute  some  delicacies  brought  to  him  by  visitors, 
and  which  he  would  never  need. 

At  the  door  of  "Ward  Three,  a  large  man  stood,  and 


248  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

seemed  to  be  an  officer.  I  asked  him  if  there  were 
any  patients  in  that  ward  who  would  need  wine  penado. 
He  looked  down  at  me,  pleasantly,  and  said: 

"  I  think  it  very  likely,  madam,  for  it  is  a  very  bad 
ward." 

It  was  indeed  a  very  bad  ward,  for  a  settled  gloom 
lay  upon  the  faces  of  the  occupants,  who  suffered  be 
cause  the  ward-master  and  entire  set  of  nurses  had  re 
cently  been  discharged,  and  new,  incompetent  men 
appointed  in  their  places. 

As  I  passed  down,  turning  from  right  to  left,  to  give 
to  such  men  as  needed  it  the  mild  stimulant  1  had 
brought,  I  saw  how  sad  and  hopeless  they  were;  only 
one  man  seemed  inclined  to  talk,  and  he  sat  near  the 
centre  of  the  ward,  while  some  one  dressed  his  shoul 
der  from  which  the  arm  had  been  carried  away  by  a 
cannon  ball.  A  group  of  men  stood  around  him,  talk 
ing  of  that  strange  amputation,  and  he  was  full  of 
chat  and  cheerfulness. 

They  called  him  Charlie;  but  my  attention  was 
quickly  drawn  to  a  young  man,  on  a  cot,  close  by, 
who  was  suffering  torture  from  the  awkwardness  of  a 
nurse  who  was  dressing  a  large,  flesh-wound  on  the 
outside  of  his  right  thigh. 

I  set  my  bowl  on  the  floor,  caught  the  nurse's  wrist, 
lifted  his  hand  away,  and  said: 

"  Oh,  stop !  you  are  hurting  that  man !  Let  me  do 
that!" 

He  replied,  pleasantly, 

"  I'll  be  very  glad  to,  for  I'm  a  green  hand! " 

I  took  his  place ;  saw  the  wounded  flesh  creep  at  the 
touch  of  cold  water,  and  said : 


FIND  WOKK.  249 

"  Cold  water  hurts  you! " 

"Yes  ma'am,  a  little!" 

"  Then  we  must  have  some  warm ! "  But  nurse  said 
there  was  none. 

"No  warm  water?"  I  exclaimed,  as  I  drew  back 
and  looked  at  him,  in  blank  astonishment. 

"  No,  ma'am!  there's  no  warm  water! " 

"  How  many  wounded  men  have  you  in  this  hos 
pital?" 

"  Well,  about  seven  hundred,  I  believe." 

"  About  seven  hundred  wounded  men,  and  no  warm 
water!  So  none  of  them  get  anything  to  eat!" 

"  Oh,  yes!  they  get  plenty  to  eat." 

"And  how  do  you  cook  without  warm  water? " 

"  Why,  there's  plenty  of  hot  water  in  the  kitchen, 
but  we're  not  allowed  to  go  there,  and  we  have  none 
in  the  wards." 

"  Where  is  the  kitchen?  " 

He  directed  me.  I  covered  the  wound — told  the 
patient  to  wait  and  I  would  get  warm  water.  In  the 
kitchen  a  dozen  cooks  stopped  to  stare  at  me,  but  one 
gave  me  what  I  came  for,  and  on  returning  to  the 
ward  I  said  to  Charlie: 

"  Now  you  can  have  some  warm  water,  if  you  want 
it." 

"  But  I  do  not  want  it!     I  like  cold  water  best! " 

"  Then  it  is  best  for  you,  but  it  is  not  best  for  this 
man! " 

I  had  never  before  seen  any  such  wound  as  the  one 
I  was  dressing,  but  I  could  think  of  but  one  way — 
clean  it  thoroughly,  put  on  clean  lint  and  rags  and 
bandages,  without  hurting  the  patient,  and  this  was 


250  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

very  easy  to  do;  but  while  I  did  this,  I  wanted  to  do 
something  more,  viz.:  dispel  the  gloom  which  hung 
over  that  ward.  I  knew  that  sick  folks  should  have 
their  minds  occupied  by  pleasant  thoughts,  and  never 
addressed  an  audience  with  more  care  than  I  talked 
to  that  one  man,  in  appearance,  while  really  talking 
to  all  those  who  lay  before  me  and  some  to  whom  my 
back  was  turned. 

I  could  modulate  my  voice  so  as  to  be  heard  at  quite 
a  distance,  and  yet  cause  no  jar  to  very  sensitive  nerves 
close  at  hand;  and  when  I  told  my  patient  that  I  pro 
posed  to  punish  him  now,  while  he  was  in  my  power, 
all  heard  and  wondered;  then  every  one  was  stimulated 
to  learn  that  it  was  to  keep  him  humble,  because,  hav 
ing  received  such  a  wound  in  the  charge  on  Marie's 
Hill,  he  would  be  so  proud  by  and  by  that  common 
folks  would  be  afraid  to  speak  to  him.  I  should  be 
quite  thrown  into  the  shade  by  his  laurels,  and  should 
probably  take  my  revenge  in  advance  by  sticking  pins 
in  him  now,  when  he  could  not  help  himself. 

This  idea  proved  to  be  quite  amusing,  and  before  I 
had  secured  that  bandage,  the  men  seemed  to  have  for 
gotten  their  wounds,  except  as  a  source  of  future  pride, 
and  were  firing  jokes  at  each  other  as  rapidly  as  they 
had  done  bullets  at  the  enemy.  When,  therefore,  I 
proposed  sticking  pins  into  any  one  else  who  desired 
such  punishment,  there  was  quite  a  demand  for  my 
services,  and  with  my  basin  of  tepid  water  I  started 
to  wet  the  hard,  dry  dressings,  and  leave  them  to  soften 
before  being  removed.  Before  night  I  discovered  that 
lint  is  an  instrument  of  incalculable  torture,  and 
should  never  be  used,  as  either  blood  or  pus  quickly 


HOSPITAL  GANGKENE.  251 

converts  some  portion  of  it  into  splints,  as  irritating 
as  a  pine  shaving. 


CHAPTEE   LIII. 

HOSPITAL  GANGRENE. 

ABOUT  nine  o'clock  I  returned  to  the  man  I  had 
come  to  help,  and  found  that  he  still  slept.  I  hoped 
he  might  rouse  and  have  some  further  message  for  his 
wife,  before  death  had  finished  his  work,  and  so  re 
mained  with  him,  although  I  was  much  needed  in  the 
u  very  bad  ward." 

I  had  sat  by  him  but  a  few  moments  when  I  noticed 
a  green  shade  on  his  face.  It  darkened,  and  his  breath 
ing  grew  labored — then  ceased.  I  think  it  was  not 
more  than  twenty  minutes  from  the  time  I  observed 
the  green  tinge  until  he  was  gone.  I  called  the  nurse, 
who  brought  the  large  man  I  had  seen  at  the  door  of 
the  bad  ward,  and  now  I  knew  he  was  a  surgeon,  knew 
also,  by  the  sudden  shadow  on  his  face  when  he  saw 
the  corpse,  that  he  was  alarmed;  and  when  he  had 
'given  minute  directions  for  the  removal  of  the  bed 
and  its  contents,  the  washing  of  the  floor  and  sprink 
ling  with  chloride  of  lime,  I  went  close  to  his  side, 
and  said  in  a  low  voice: 

"  Doctor,  is  not  this  hospital  gangrene?  " 

He  looked  down  at  me,  seemed  to  take  my  measure, 
and  answered: 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  say,  madam,  that  it  is." 

"  Then  you  want  lemons!  " 

"  We  would  be  glad  to  have  them! " 


252  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

"Glad  "to  have  them?"  I  repeated,  in  profound  as 
tonishment,  "  why,  you  must  have  them!" 

He  seemed  surprised  at  my  earnestness,  and  set 
about  explaining: 

"We  sent  to  the  Sanitary  Commission  last  week, 
and  got  half  a  box." 

"Sanitary  Commission,  and  half  a  box  of  lemons? 
How  many  wounded  have  you?" 

"  Seven  hundred  and  fifty." 

"  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  men!  Hospital 
gangrene,  and  half  a  box  of  lemons !" 

""Well,  that  was  all  we  could  get;  Government  pro 
vides  none;  but  our  Chaplain  is  from  Boston — his  wife 
has  written  to  friends  there  and  expects  a  box  next 
week!" 

"  To  Boston  for  a  box  of  lemons !" 

I  went  to  the  head  nurse  whom  I  had  scolded  in  the 
morning,  who  now  gave  me  writing  materials,  and  I 
wrote  a  short  note  to  the  New  York  Tribune  : 

"  Hospital  gangrene  has  broken  out  in  "Washington, 
and  we  want  lemons!  lemons/  LEMONS!  LEMONS! 
No  man  or  woman  in  health,  has  a  right  to  a  glass  of 
lemonade  until  these  men  have  all  they  need;  send  us 
lemons!" 

I  signed  my  name  and  mailed  it  immediately,  and 
it  appeared  next  morning.  That  day  Schuyler  Colfax 
sent  a  box  to  my  lodgings,  and  five  dollars  in  a  note, 
bidding  me  send  to  him  if  more  were  wanting;  but 
that  day  lemons  began  to  pour  into  Washington,  and 
soon,  I  think,  into  every  hospital  in  the  land.  Gov. 
Andrews  sent  two  hundred  boxes  to  the  Surgeon  Gen 
eral.  I  received  so  many,  that  at  one  time  there  were 


GET  PERMISSION  TO  WORK.  253 

twenty  ladies,  several  of  them  with  ambulances,  dis 
tributing  those  which  came  to  my  address,  and  if  there 
was  any  more  hospital  gangrene  that  season  I  neither 
saw  nor  heard  of  it. 

The  officers  in  Campbell  knew  of  the  letter,  and 
were  glad  of  the  supplies  it  brought,  but  some  time 
passed  before  they  identified  the  writer  as  the  little 
sister  in  the  bad  ward,  who  had  won  the  reputation 
of  being  the  "  best  wound-dresser  in  "Washington." 

CHAPTER   LIY. 

GET  PERMISSION  TO  WORK. 

RULES  required  me  to  leave  Campbell  at  five  o'clock, 
but  the  sun  was  going  down,  and  I  lay  on  a  cot,  in  the 
bad  ward,  feeling  that  going  home,  or  anywhere  else, 
was  impossible,  when  that  large  doctor  came,  felt  my 
pulse,  laid  his  hand  on  my  brow,  and  said : 

"You  must  not  work  so  hard  or  we  will  lose  you! 
I  have  been  hunting  for  you  to  ask  if  you  would  like 
to  remain  with  us?" 

"  Like  to  remain  with  you?  Well,  you  will  have  to 
send  a  file  of  soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets  to  drive  me 
away." 

He  laughed  quite  heartily,  and  said: 

"  We  do  not  want  you  to  go  away.  I  am  executive 
officer  Surgeon  Kelley;  and  Dr.  Baxter,  surgeon  in 
charge,  has  commissioned  me  to  say  that  if  you  wish 
to  stay,  he  will  have  a  room  prepared  for  you.  He 
hunted  for  yon  to  say  so  in  person,  but  is  gone;  now  I 
await  your  decision.  Shall  I  order  you  a  room  P 


25-i  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

u  Surgeon  Baxter!  Why — what  does  lie  know  about 
me?" 

"Oh,  Surgeon  Baxter,  two  medical  inspectors,  and 
the  surgeon  of  this  ward  were  present  this  morning 
when  you  came  in  and  took  possession." 

His  black  eyes  twinkled,  and  he  shook  with  laughter 
when  I  sat  up,  clasped  my  hands,  and  said: 

"  Oh,  dear?  Were  they  the  men  who  were  standing 
around  Charlie?  Why  I  had  not  dreamed  of  their 
being  surgeons!" 

"  Did  you  not  know  by  their  shoulderstraps?" 

"  Shoulderstraps  ?  Do  surgeons  have  shoulderstraps  ? 
I  thought  only  officers  wore  them!" 

"  Well,  surgeons  are  officers,  and  you  can  know  by 
my  shoulderstraps  that  I  am  a  surgeon." 

"  Oh,  I  do  not  mind  you;  but  Dr.  Baxter!  How  I 
did  behave  before  him!  What  must  he  have  thought? 
And  he  does  not  allow  women  to  come  here!" 

"  Well.  You  passed  inspection ;  and  as  you  pro 
pose  to  stay  with  us,  I  will  have  a  room  prepared  for 
you." 

He  then  went  on  to  state  that  the  reason  Doctor 
Baxter  would  not  have  female  nurses,  was  that  he 
would  not  submit  to  Miss  Dix's  interference,  did  not 
like  the  women  she  chose,  and  army  regulations  did 
not  permit  him  to  employ  any  other. 

"  But,"  he  continued,  uno  one  can  object  to  his  en 
tertaining  a  guest,  and  as  his  guest  you  can  employ 
your  time  as  you  wish." 

Ah!  what  a  glorious  boon  it  was,  this  privilege  of 
work,  and  my  little  barrack-room,  just  twice  the 
width  of  my  iron  cot,  I  would  not  have  exchanged 
for  any  suite  in  Windsor  palace. 


FIND  A  NAME.  255 

CHAPTER   LY. 

FIND    A    NAME. 

was  more  needed  in  the  bad  ward,  than 
an  antidote  for  homesickness,  and,  to  furnish  this,  I 
used  my  talking  talent  to  the  utmost,  but  no  subject 
was  so  interesting  as  myself.  I  was  the  mystery  of 
the  hour.  Charlie  was  commissioned  to  make  discov 
eries,  and  the  second  day  came,  with  a  long  face,  and 
said: 

"Do  you  know  what  they  say  about  you?" 

"  No  indeed!    and  suspect  I  should  never  guess." 

"  Well,  they  say  you  're  an  old  maid!" 

I  stopped  work,  rose  from  my  knees,  confronted  him 
and  exclaimed,  with  an  injured  air: 

"An  old  maid!  "Why  Charlie!  is  it  possible  you 
let  them  talk  in  that  manner  about  me,  after  the  nice 
pickles  I  gave  you?" 

The  pickles  had  made  him  sick,  and  now  there  was 
a  general  laugh  at  his  expense,  but  he  stuck  to  his 
purpose  and  said: 

"  Well,  ain't  you  an  old  maid  ? " 

"  An  old  maid,  Charlie?  Did  any  one  ever  see  such 
a  saucy  boy  ?  " 

"  Oh,  but  tell  us,  good  earnest,  ain't  you  an  old 
maid?" 

"  Well  then,  good  earnest,  Charlie,  I  expect  I  shall 
be  one,  if  I  live  to  be  old  enough." 

"  Live  to  be  old  enough !  How  old  do  you  call  your 
self?" 

I  set  down  my  basin,  counted  on  my  fingers,  thought 
it  over  and  replied: 


256  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  "Well,  if  I  live  two  months  and  five  days  longer,  I 
shall  be  sixteen." 

Then  there  was  a  shout  at  Charlie's  expense,  and  I 
resumed  my  work,  grave  as  an  owl.  That  furnished 
amusement  until  it  grew  stale,  when  Charlie  came  to 
ask  me  my  name,  and  I  told  him  it  was  Mrs.  Snooks. 

"Mrs.  Snooks?  "  repeated  a  dozen  men,  who  looked 
sadly  disappointed,  and  Charlie  most  of  all,  as  I 
added: 

"Yes;  Mrs.  Timothy  Snooks,  of  Snooksville,  Min 
nesota." 

This  was  worse  and  worse.  It  was  evident  no  one 
liked  the  name,  but  all,  save  one,  were  too  polite  to 
say  so,  and  he  roared  out: 

"  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it!" 

I  sat  at  some  distance  with  my  back  to  him,  dress 
ing  a  wound  ;  and,  without  turning,  said, 

"  Why?     What  is  the  matter  with  you?" 

"  I  don't  believe  that  such  a  looking  woman  as  you 
are  ever  married  a  fellow  by  the  name  of  Snooks:" 

"  That  is  because  you  are  not  acquainted  with  the 
Snooks'  family;  brother  Peter's  wife  is  a  much  better 
looking  woman  than  I  am !" 

"Good  lookin'!"  he -sneered;  "call  yourself  good 
lookin',  do  you?" 

"  Well,  I  think  you  intimated  as  much,  did  he  not 
boys?" 

They  all  said  he  had,  and  the  laugh  was  turned  on 
him;  but  he  exclaimed  doggedly, 

"  I  don't  care!  I'm  not  goin'  to  call  you  Snooks!" 

"  And  what  do  you  propose  to  call  me?" 

"  I'll  call  you  Mary." 


FIND  A  NAME.  257 

"  But  Mary  is  not  my  name." 

"  I  don't  care!  It's  the  name  of  all  the  nice  girls  I 
know!" 

"  Yery  good!  I  too  shall  probably  be  a  nice  girl  if  I 
live  to  grow  up,  but  just  now  it  seems  as  if  I  should 
die  in  infancy — am  too  good  to  live." 

"  You're  the  greatest  torment  ever  any  man  saw." 

The  last  pin  was  in  that  bandage;  I  arose,  turned, 
and  the  thought  flashed  through  my  brain,  "  a  tiger." 
His  eyes  literally  blazed,  and  I  went  to  him,  looking 
straight  into  them,  just  as  I  had  done  into  Tom's  more 
than  once.  A  minnie  rifle  ball  had  passed  through  his 
right  ankle,  and  when  I  saw  him  first  the  flesh  around 
the  wound  was  purple  and  the  entire  limb  swollen  al 
most  to  bursting.  The  ward  master  told  me  he  had 
been  given  up  three  days  before,  and  was  only  waiting 
his  turn  to  be  carried  to  the  dead  house.  Next  morn 
ing  the  surgeon  confirmed  the  account,  said  he  had 
been  on  the  amputation  table  and  sent  away  in  hope 
the  foot  might  be  saved,  adding: 

"  I  think  we  were  influenced  by  the  splendor  of  the 
man's  form.  It  seemed  sacrilege  to  mangle  such  a 
leg  then,  before  we  knew  it  was  too  late." 

I  thought  the  inflammation  might  be  removed.  He 
said  if  that  were  done  they  could  amputate  and  save 
him,  and  the  conversation  ended  in  the  surgeon  giv 
ing  the  man  to  me  to  experiment  on  my  theory.  This 
seemed  to  be  generally  known,  and  the  case  was 
watched  with  great  interest.  No  one  interfered  with 
my  treatment  of  him,  and  nurses  designated  him  to 
me  as  "  your  man." 

He  was  a  cross  between  a  Hercules  and  Apoll< 
17 


258  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

grey-eyed,  brown-haired,  the  finest  specimen  of  phys 
ical  manhood  I  have  ever  seen,  and  now  his  frail  hold 
on  life  was  endangered  by  the  rage  into  which  I  had 
unwittingly  thrown  him.  So  I  sat  bathing  and  sooth 
ing  him,  looking  ever  and  anon  steadily  into  his  eyes, 
and  said: 

"  Yon  had  better  call  me  mother." 

"Mother! "  he  snarled,  "You  my  mother!" 

"Why  not?" 

"  Why,  you're  not  old  enough!" 

"  I  am  twice  as  old  as  you  are! 

"  No,  you  're  not;  and  another  thing,  you're  not  big 
enough!"  He  raised  his  head,  surveyed  me  leisurely 
and  contemptuously,  his  dark  silky  moustache  went 
up  against  his  handsome  nose  as  he  sank  back  and 
said  slowly: 

"  Why,  you-'re-not-much-bigger-'an-a-bean !" 

"  Still,  I  am  large  enough  to  take  care  of  you  and 
send  you  back  to  your  regiment  if  you  are  reasonable: 
but  no  one  can  do  anything  for  you  if  you  fly  into  a 
rage  in  this  way!" 

"Yes!  and  you  know  that,  and  you  put  me  in  a 
rage  going  after  them  other  fellows.  You  know  I've 
got  the  best  right  to  you.  I  claimed  you  soon  as  you 
come  in  the  door,  and  called  you  afore  you  got  half 
clown  the  ward.  You  said  you'd  take  care  of  me,  and 
now  you  don't  do  it.  The  surgeon  give  me  to  you 
too.  You  know  I  can't  live  if  you  don't  save  me, 
and  you  don't  care  if  I  die!" 

I  was  penitent  and  conciliatory,  and  promised  to  be 
good,  when  he  said  doggedly : 

"Yes!   and  I'll  call  you  Mary!" 


FIND  A  NAME.  259 

"Very  well,  Mary  is  a  good  name — it  was  my  moth 
er's,  and  I  shall  no  doubt  come  to  like  it." 

"I  guess  it  is  a  good  name!  It  was  my  mother's 
name  too,  and  any  woman  might  be  glad  to  be  called 
Mary.  But  I  never  did  see  a  woman  'at  had  any  sense !" 

He  soon  growled  himself  to  sleep,  and  from  that 
time  I  called  him  "  Ursa  Major;"  but  he  only  slept 
about  half  an  hour,  when  a  nurse  in  great  fright  sum 
moned  me.  They  had  lifted  him  and  he  had  fainted. 

I  helped  to  put  him  back  into  bed,  and  bathed  him 
until  consciousness  returned,  when  he  grapsed  my 
wrist  with  a  vice-like  hold  and  groaned. 

«  Oh  God !     Oh  mother !     Is  this  death  ? " 

I  heard  no  more  of  Miss  Mary,  or  nice  girls;  but 
God  and  mother  and  death  were  often  on  his  lips. 

To  the  great  surprise  of  every  one  I  quelled  the  in 
flammation  and  fever,  banished  the  swelling,  and  got 
him  into  good  condition,  when  the  foot  was  amputated 
and  shown  to  me.  The  ankle  joint  was  ground  into 
small  pieces,  and  these  were  mingled  with  bits  of 
leather  and  woolen  sock.  JSTo  wonder  the  inflamma 
tion  had  been  frightful;  but  it  was  some  time  after 
that  before  I  knew  the  foot  might  have  been  saved  by 
making  a  sufficient  opening  from  the  outside,  with 
drawing  the  loose  irritating  matter,  and  keeping  an 
opening  through  which  nature  could  have  disposed  of 
her  waste.  I  do  not  know  if  surgery  have  yet  discov 
ered  this  plain,  common-sense  rule,  but  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  men  have  died,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  oth 
ers  have  lost  limbs  because  it  was  not  known  and  acted 
upon.  All  those  men  who  died  of  gun-shot  flesh 
wounds  were  victims  to  surgical  stupidity. 


260  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

I  nursed  the  cross  man  until  he  went  about  on 
crutches,  and  his  faith  in  me  was  equal  in  perfection 
to  his  form,  for  he  always  held  that  I  could  "  stop  this 
pain  "  if  I  would,  and  rated  me  soundly  if  I  was  "  off 
in  ward  Ten  "  when  he  wanted  me.  One  clay  he 
scolded  worse  than  usual,  and  soon  after  an  Irishman 
said,  in  an  aside: 

"  Schure  mum,  an'  ye  mustn't  be  afther  blamin'  de 
rist  av  us  fur  that  fellow's  impidence.  Schure,  an' 
there's  some  av  us  that  'ud  kick  him  out  av  the  ward, 
if  we  could,  for  the  way  he  talks  to  ye  afther  all  that 
you  have  done  for  'im  an'  fur  all  av  us." 

"  Why !  why !  How  can  you  feel  so  ?  What  differ 
ence  is  it  to  me  how"  he  talks?  It  does  him  good  to 
scold,  and  what  is  the  use  of  a  man  having  a  mother  if  he 
cannot  scold  her  when  he  is  in  pain?  I  wish  you  would 
all  scold  me !  It  would  do  you  ever  so  much  good.  You 
quite  break  my  heart  with  your  patience.  Do,  please 
be  as  cross  as  bears,  all  of  you,  whenever  you  feel  like 
it,  and  I  will  get  you  well  in  half  the  time." 

"  Schure  mum,  an'  nobody  iver  saw  the  likes  of 
ye!" 

A  man  was  brought  from  a  field  hospital,  and  laid 
in  our  ward,  and  one  evening  his  stump  was  giving 
him  great  pain, when  the  cross  man  advised  him  to  send 
for  me,  and  exclaimed: 

"There's  mother,  now;  send  for  her." 

"  Oh!"  groaned  the  sufferer,  "what  can  she  do?" 

"  I  don't  know  what  she  can  do;  an'  she  don't  know 
what  she  can  do;  but  just  you  send  for  her!  She'll 
come,  and  go  to  fussin'  an'  hummin'  about  just  like 
an  old  bumble-bee,  an'  furst  thing  you  know  you  won't 


DEOP  MY  ALIAS.  261 

know  nothin',  for  the  pain  '11  be  gone  an'  you'll  be 
asleep." 


CHAPTEE  LVL 

DKOP  MY  ALIAS. 

THE  second  or  third  day  of  my  hospital  work,  Mrs. 
Gaylord,  the  Chaplain's  wife,  came  and  inquired  to 
what  order  I  belonged,  saying  that  the  officers  of  the 
hospital  were  anxious  to  know.  I  laughed,  and  told 
her  I  belonged  exclusively  to  myself,  and  did  not 
know  of  any  order  which  would  care  to  own  me. 
Then  she  very  politely  inquired  my  name,  and  I  told  her 
it  was  Mrs.  Jeremiah  Snooks,  when  she  went  away, 
apparently  doubting  my  statement.  I  had  been  in 
Campbell  almost  a  week,  when  Dr.  Kelly  came  and 
said: 

"  Madam,  I  have  been  commissioned  by  the  officers 
of  this  hospital  to  ascertain  your  name.  E"one  of  us 
know  how  to  address  you,  and  it  is  very  awkward 
either  in  speaking  to  you,  or  of  you,  not  to  be  able  to 
name  you." 

"  Doctor,  will  not  Mrs.  Snooks  do  for  a  name,  for 
all  the  time  I  shall  be  here?" 

"  No,  madam,  it  will  not  do." 

I  was  very  unwilling  to  give  my  name,  which  was 
prominently  before  the  public,  on  account  of  my  In 
dian  lecture  and  Tribune  letters,  but  I  seemed  to 
have  at  least  a  month's  work  to  do  in  Campbell.  Hos 
pital  stores  were  pouring  in  to  my  city  address,  and 
being  sent  to  me  at  a  rate  which  created  much  won- 


262  HALF  A  CEXTUSY. 

der,  and  the  men  who  had  given  me  their  confidence 
had  a  right  to  know  who  I  was. 

So  I  gave  my  name,  and  must  repeat  it  before  the 
Doctor  could  realize  the  astounding  fact;  even  then  he 
took  off  his  cap  and  said: 

"  It  is  not  possible  you  are  the  Mrs. ,  the 

lady  who  lectured  in  Doctor  Sunderland's  church!" 

So  I  was  proclaimed,  with  a  great  flourish  of  trum 
pets.  For  two  hours  my  patients  seemed  afraid  of  me, 
and  it  did  seem  too  bad  to  merge  that  giantess  of  the 
bean-pole  and  the  press  and  the  tall  woman  of  the 
platform  both  in  poor  little  insignificant  me!  It  was 
like  blotting  out  the  big  bear  and  the  middle-sized 
bear  from  the  old  bear  story,  and  leaving  only 
the  one  poor  little  bear  to  growl  over  his  pot  of  por 
ridge. 

In  Ward  Five  was  one  man  who  had  been  laid  on 
his  left  side,  and  never  could  be  moved  while  he  lived. 
His  right  arm  suffered  for  lack  of  support,  and  when 
I  knelt  to  give  him  nourishment  from  a  spoon,  and 
pray  with  him  that  the  deliverer  would  soon  come, 
he  always  laid  that  arm  over  my  shoulders.  The  first 
time  I  knelt  there  after  I  was  known,  he  said: 

"  Ah,  you  are  such  a  great  lady,  and  do  not  mind  a 
poor  soldier  laying  his  arm  over  you!" 

"  Christ,  the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation,"  I  re 
plied,  "  gathers  you  in  his  arms  and  pillows  your  head 
upon  his  bosom.  Am  I  greater  than  he?  Your 
good  right  arm  has  fought  for  liberty,  and  it  is  an 
honor  to  support  it,  when  you  are  no  longer  able." 

But  nothing  else  I  could  ever  say  to  him,  was  so 
much  comfort  as  the  old  cry  of  the  sufferer  by  the  way- 


DEOP  MY  ALIAS.  263 

side,  "  Jesus,  them  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me." 

Over  and  over  again  we  said  that  prayer  in  concert, 
while  he  waited  in  agony  for  the  only  relief  possible — 
that  of  death;  and  from  our  last  interview  I  returned 
to  the  bad  ward,  so  sad  that  I  felt  the  shadow  of  rny 
face  fall  upon  every  man  in  it.  I  could  not  drive  away 
death's  gloom;  but  I  could  work  and  talk,  and  both 
work  and  talk  were  needed. 

I  sat  down  between  two  young  Irishmen,  both  with 
wounded  heads,  and  began  to  bathe  them,  and  comfort 
them,  and  said: 

"If  you  are  not  better  in  the  morning,  I  shall  am 
putate  both  those  heads;  they  shall  not  plague  you  in 
this  manner  another  day." 

Maybe  my  sad  face  made  this  funny,  for  their  sense 
of  the  ridiculous  was  so  touched  that  they  clasped 
their  sore  heads  and  shrieked  with  laughter.  Every 
man  in  the  ward  caught  the  infection,  and  I  was 
called  upon  for  explanations  of  the  art  of  amputating 
heads,  and  inquiries  as  to  Surgeon  Baxter's  capacity 
of  performing  the  operation. 

This  grotesque  idea  proved  a  fruitful  subject  of  con 
versation,  and  'aided  in  leading  sufferers  away  from 
useless  sorrow,  toward  hope  and  health;  and  bad  as 
the  ward  was  we  lost  but  two  men  in  it. 


264  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

CHAPTEE    LYII. 

HOSPITAL   DKESS. 

IN  that  sad  ward  one  superior,  intelligent  young 
man,  who  was  thought  to  be  doing  well,  suddenly 
burst  an  artery,  and  ropes  were  put  up  to  warn  visitors 
and  others  not  to  come  in,  and  we  who  were  in,  moved 
with  bated  breath  lest  some  motion  should  start  the 
life-current.  While  his  last  hope  was  on  a  stillness 
which  forbade  him  to  move  a  finger,  two  lady  visitors 
came  to  the  door,  were  forbidden  to  enter,  but  seeing 
me  inside,  must  follow  the  sheep  instinct  of  the  sex, 
and  go  where  any  other  woman  had  gone.  So,  with 
pert  words,  they  forced  their  way  in,  made  a  general 
flutter,  and,  oh  horror!  one  of  them  caught  her  hoops 
on  the  iron  cot  of  the  dying  man.  He  was  only  saved 
from  a  severe  jerk  by  the  prompt  intervention  of  the 
special  nurse.  They  were  led  out  as  quietly  as  possi 
ble,  but  the  man  had  received  a  slight  jerk  and  a  ser 
ious  shock.  The  hemorrhage  would  probably  have  re 
turned  if  they  had  not  come  in,  but  it  did  return,  and 
the  young,  strong  life  ebbed  steadily  away  in  a  crimson 
current  which  spread  over  the  floor. 

From  that  day  until  the  end  of  my  hospital  work, 
one  fact  forced  itself  upon  my  attention,  and  this  is, 
that  with  all  the  patriotism  of  the  American  women, 
during  that  war,  and  all  their  gush  of  sympathy  for 
the  soldier,  a  vast  majority  were  much  more  willing 
to  "kiss  him  for  his  mother"  than  render  him  any  solid 
service,  and  that  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  women 
who  succeeded  in  getting  into  hospitals  would  dress  so 


HOSPITAL  DKESS.  265 

as  not  to  be  an  object  of  terror  to  men  whose  life  de 
pended  on  quiet. 

Women  were  capable  of  any  heroism  save  wearing  a 
dress  suitable  for  hospital  work.  The  very,  very  few 
who  laid  aside  their  hoops,  those  instruments  of  dread 
and  torture,  generally  donned  bloomers,  and  gave 
offense  by  airs  of  independence. 

Good  women  would  come  long  distances  to  see  dying 
husbands,  brothers  and  sons,  and  fill  the  wards  with 
alarm  by  their  hoops.  When  any  one  was  hurt  by 
them  they  were  very  sorry,  but  never  gave  up  the 
cause  of  offense,  while  their  desire  to  look  well,  and 
the  finery  and  fixings  they  donned  to  improve  their 
appearance,  was  a  very  broad  and  painful  burlesque. 
Women  were  seldom  permitted  to  stay  in  a  hospital 
over  night,  even  with  a  dying  friend,  and  the  inhabi 
tants  were  generally  glad  when  they  started  for  home. 

It  was  the  dress  nuisance  which  caused  nuns  to 
have  the  preference  in  so  many  cases;  but  I  could  not 
see  or  hear  that  they  ever  did  anything  but  make  con 
verts  to  the  church  and  take  care  of  clothing  and 
jellies. 

One  thing  is  certain,  i.  e.,  that  women  never  can 
do  efficient  and  general  service  in  hospitals  until  their 
dress  is  prescribed  by  laws  inexorable  as  those  of 
the  Medes  and  Persians.  Then,  that  dress  should  be 
entirely  destitute  of  steel,  starch,  whale-bone,  flounces, 
and  ornaments  of  all  descriptions;  should  rest  on 
the  shoulders,  have  a  skirt  from  the  waist  to  the 
ankle,  and  a  waist  which  leaves  room  for  breathing. 
I  never  could  have  done  my  hospital  work  but  for  the 
dress  which  led  most  people  to  mistake  me  for  a  nun. 


266  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

CHAPTEE    LYIII. 

SPECIAL   WORK. 

IN  the  wilderness  of  work  I  must  choose,  and  began 
to  select  men  who  had  been  given  up  by  the  surgeons, 
and  whom  I  thought  might  be  saved  by  special  care. 
Surgeon  Kelly  soon  entered  into  my  plan,  and  made  his 
ward  my  headquarters.  To  it  my  special  patients 
were  brought,  until  there  was  no  more  room  for  them. 
That  intuitive  perception  of  the  natural  position  of 
muscles,  and  the  importance  of  keeping  them  in  it, 
which  came  to  me  on  first  seeing  a  wound  dressed,  gave 
me  such  control  over  pain  that  I  used  to  go  through  the 
wards  between  midnight  and  morning  and  put  ampu 
tation  cases  to  sleep  at  the  rate  of  one  in  fifteen  min 
utes. 

In  these  morning  walks  I  saw  that  the  nurses  were 
on  duty  and  had  substantial  refreshments,  saw  those 
changes  for  the  worse,  sure  to  come,  if  they  came  at 
all,  in  those  chill  hours.  Seeing  them  soon  was  impor 
tant  to  meeting  them  successfully,  and  I  succeeded  in 
breaking  up  many  a  chill  before  it  did  serious  dam 
age,  which  must  have  proved  fatal  if  left  until  the 
morning  visit  of  the  Surgeon.  Also,  in  those  walks  I 
chose  special  cases;  have  more  than  once  sat  down  by 
a  man  and  calculated  in  this  way: 

"  You  may  have  twenty,  forty  years  of  useful  life,  if 
I  can  save  you ;  I  shall  certainly  die  one  year  sooner  for 
the  labor  I  expend  on  you,  but  there  will  be  a  large 
gain  in  the  average  of  life  and  usefulness;  and  when 
you  risked  all  of  your  life  for  the  country  as  much  mine 


SPECIAL  WORK.  267 

as  yours,  it  is  but  just  that  I  should  give  a  small  part 
of  mine  to  save  you." 

Every  man  lived  whom  I  elected  to  life,  and  Dr. 
Kelly,  who  knew  more  than  any  one  else  about  my 
plans,  and  on  whom  I  most  counted  for  aid,  has  said 
that  I  saved  enough  to  the  government  in  bounty 
money,  by  returning  men  to  duty  who  would  other 
wise  have  died,  to  warrant  it  in  supporting  me  the 
balance  of  my  life;  but  his  statements. could  not  always 
be  relied  upon,  for  he  insisted  that  I  never  slept,  had 
not  been  asleep  during  the  seven  weeks  spent  in  Gamp- 
bell,  was  a  witch  and  would  float  like  a  cork,  if  thrown 
from  the  Long  Bridge  into  the  Potomac. 

In  selecting  a  man  in  desperate  case  to  be  saved,  I 
always  took  his  temperament  and  previous  life  into 
consideration.  A  man  of  pure  life  and  sanguine  tem 
perament  was  hard  to  kill.  Give  him  the  excuse  of 
good  nursing  and  he  would  live  through  injuries  which 
must  be  fatal  to  a  bilious,  suspicious  man,  or  one  who 
had  been  guilty  of  any  excess.  A  tobacco  chewer  or 
smoker  died  on  small  provocation.  A  drunkard  or 
debauchee  was  killed  by  a  scratch. 

There  were  two  ward  surgeons  who  disapproved  of 
the  innovation  of  a  woman  in  Campbell,  and  especially 
of  one  held  amenable  to  no  rules.  They  were^both  in 
favor  of  heroic  treatment,  which  I  did  not  care  to  wit 
ness,  and  I  spent  little  time  in  their  wards.  One  of 
them  kept  a  man,  with  two  bricks  tied  to  his  foot  and 
hanging  over  the  foot  of  the  bed,  until  he  died,  after 
ten  days  of  a  sleepless  agony  such  as  could  not  well 
have  been  excelled  in  an  Inquisition;  while  his  wife 
tried  to  comfort  him  iincler  a  torture  she  begged  in 
vain  to  have  remitted. 


268  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  night  after  she  started  home  with  his  body,  I 
was  pasing  through  the  ward,  when  I  came  upon  a 
young  Philadelphia  Zouave  in  a  perfect  paroxysm  of 
anguish.  Three  nurses  stood  around  him,  and  to  my 
inquiry  "  What  2*3  the  matter?"  replied  by  dumb 
show  that  coming  death  was  the  matter,  and  that 
soon  all  would  be  over;  while  in  words  they  told  me 
he  had  not  slept  for  forty-eight  hours. 

I  had  one  place  a  chair  for  me,  sat  down,  and  with 
my  long,  thin  hands  grasped  the  thigh  stump,  which 
was  making  all  the  trouble,  drew  and  pressed  the  mus 
cle  into  a  natural,  easy  position,  cooed  and  talked  and 
comforted  the  sufferer,  as  I  should  have  done  a  sick 
baby,  and  in  ten  minutes  he  was  asleep. 

Then  I  whispered  the  nurses  to  bring  cotton  and 
oakum,  and  little  cushions;  made  them  put  the  cotton 
and  oakum,  in  small  tufts,  to  my  index  fingers;  and 
while  I  crooned  my  directions  in  a  sing-song  lullaby 
air,  I  worked  in  this  support,  gradually  and  imper 
ceptibly  withdrawing  my  hands,  until  I  could  sub 
stitute  the  little  cushions  for  the  force  by  which  they 
held  the  muscle  in  proper  position.  This  done,  my 
boy-soldier  slept  as  sweetly  as  ever  he  had  done  in  his 
crib.  ; 

Next  morning  a  nurse  came  running  for  me  to 
hurry  to  him.  He  had  slept  six  hours,  waked,  had 
his  breakfast,  and  had  his  wound  dressed,  and  now 
the  pain  was  back  bad  as  ever.  I  went,  fixed  the  man 
gled  muscle  with  reference  to  his  change  of  position, 
made  a  half-mould  to  hold  it  there,  and  before  I  had 
finished  he  began  an  eight-hour  sleep.  Ten  days  after 
he  was  sent  home  to  his  mother,  and  I  saw  or  heard 
of  him  no  more. 


Two  TREATMENTS.  269 

CHAPTEE   LIX. 

HEROIC  AND  ANTI-HEROIC  TREATMENT. 

THE  other  ward  in  which  I  was  not  welcome,  ad 
joined  that  one  in  which  my  room  was  situated,  and 
to  reach  it  I  must  go  out  of  doors  or  pass  through  one- 
half  the  length  of  that  ward.  In  these  passages  I  had 
an  opportunity  for  studying  Piemia  and  its  ordinary 
treatment,  and  could  give  the  men  lemonade  when 
they  wanted  it. 

In  this  ward  lay  a  young  German  with  a  wounded 
ankle.  He  had  a  broad,  square  forehead,  skin  white 
as  wax,  large  blue  eyes  and  yellow  hair,  inclined  to 
curl.  His  whole  appearance  indicated  high  culture, 
and  an  organization  peculiarly  sensitive  to  pleasure  or 
pain;  but  no  one  seemed  to  understand  that  he  suf 
fered  more  than  others  from  a  like  cause. 

Surgeon  and  nurses  scoifed  at  his  moans,  and  thought 
it  babyish  for  a  muscular  man  over  six  feet  to  show 
so  many  signs  of  pain.  I  think  that  from  some  cause, 
the  surgeon  felt  vindictive  toward  him,  and  that  his 
subordinates  took  their  cue  from  him.  When  I  went 
to  give  him  lemonade,  he  would  clutch  my  hand  or 
dress,  look  up  in  my  face,  and  plead: 

"Oh,  mutter!  mutter!" 

But  if  I  sat  down  to  soothe  and  comfort  him,  a  nurse 
always  came  to  remind  me  of  the  surgeon's  orders, 
and  I  used  to  go  around  on  the  outside,  that  he  might 
not  see  and  call  me.  When  he  was  in  the  amputation 
room  I  heard  his  shrieks  and  groans,  and  carried  a 
glass  of  wine  to  the  door  for  him. 


270  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

He  heard  my  voice,  and  called  "Mutter!  mutter!" 

I  pushed  past  the  orderly,  ran  to  him,  and  his  plead 
ing  eyes  seemed  to  devour  me  as  he  fastened  his  gaze 
on  my  face.  I  cannot  think  to  this  day  why  he  should 
have  been  nude  for  the  amputation  of  a  foot;  but  he 
was,  and  some  one  threw  a  towel  across  his  loins  as  I 
approached. 

Dr.  Baxter  said: 

"]$To  sympathy!  no  sympathy!" 

So  I  stood  by  him,  placed  a  hand  on  each  side  of 
his  corrugated  brow,  steadied  my  voice  and  said : 

"  Be  a  man  and  a  soldier! " 

He  had  asked  me  for  bread ;  I  gave  him  a  stone,  and 
no  wonder  he  dashed  it  back  in  my  face.  With  a 
fierce  cry  he  said: 

"  I  hev  been  a  man  and  a  sojer  long  enough! " 

Ah!  verily  had  he,  and  much  too  long.  Days  be 
fore  that  he  should  have  been  "  a  boy  again; "  aye,  a 
baby,  a  very  infant — should  have  been  soothed  and 
softened  and  comforted  with  all  the  tenderness  of  moth 
er-love;  but  even  now,  in  this  cruel  extremity,  every 
sign  of  sympathy  was  denied  him.  Some  one  put  a 
Land  gently  but  firmly  on  each  of  my  shoulders, 
turned  my  back  to  him,  took  me  out  of  the  room,  and 
I  hurried  away,  while  the  air  shuddered  with  his 
shrieks  and  groans.  After  he  had  been  brought  back 
to  his  place  in  the  ward  I  could  often  hear. him  as  I 
passed  to  and  from  my  room,  and  even  while  I  occu 
pied  it. 

Once  he  saw  me  through  the  open  door,  and  called, 
•'Mutter!  mutter!" 

I  went,  knelt   by  him,  took  his  hands,  which  were 


Two  TREATMENTS.  271 

stretched  appealingly  to  me,  and  spoke  comforting 
words,  while  his  blue  eyes  seemed  ready  to  start  from 
their  sockets,  as  he  clung  to  my  hands  with  the  old 
familiar  cry: 

"Oh,  Mutter!     Mutter!" 

He  was  strapped  down  to  his  iron  cot,  about  as  close 
ly  as  he  had  been  to  the  amputation  table,  and  the  cot 
fastened  to  the  floor.  I  had  not  been  five  minutes  at 
his  side  when  his  special  nurse  hurried  up  and  warned 
me  to  leave,  saying: 

"  It's  surgeon's  orders.  He's  not  going  to  have  any 
babyin' ! " 

I  drew  my  hands  from  the  frantic  grasp,  took  away 
that  last  hold  on  human  sympathy,  and  hurried  out, 
while  his  cry  of  "  Oh,  mutter!  mutter!"  rung  in  my 
ears  as  I  turned  and  looked  on  his  pure  high  brow  for 
the  last  time. 

ISText  morning  I  heard  he  had  lock-jaw,  and  that  the 
surgeon  was  to  leave. 

The  night  after  that  victim  of  some  frightful,  fiend 
ish  experiment  had  been  carried  to  the  dead-house,  I 
was  passing  through  the  ward,  when  attracted  by 
sounds  of  convulsive  weeping,  and  I  found  a  young 
man  in  an  agony  of  grief,  in  one  of  those  sobbing  fits 
sure  to  come  to  the  bravest.  He  was  in  a  high  fever, 
and  while  I  bathed  his  face  and  hands,  I  asked  the  cause 
of  his  outbreak,  and  he  sobbed: 

"  Oh,  the  pain  in  my  wound!  This  is  the  third 
night  I  have  not  slept,  and  my  God !  I  can  bear  it  no 
longer!" 

It  was  a  flesh-wound  in  the  thigh,  such  an  one  as 
usually  proved  fatal,  and  while  I  set  him  to  talking  I 


272  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

began  patching  scraps  of  observation  into  a  theory. 
He  was  from  Pennsylvania,  and  bitterly  charged  his 
State  with  having  done  nothing  for  her  wounded,  and 
when  I  asked  why  he  had  not  sent  for  me,  he  said: 

"  Oh,  I  thought  you  were  from  Massachusetts,  like 
all  the  rest  of  them ;  and  if  my  own  State  would  do 
nothing  for  me,  I  would  not  beg.  People  come  here 
every  day  looking  for  Massachusetts  soldiers.  Since 
I  have  been  frantic  here,  ladies  have  come  and  stood 
and  looked  at  me,  and  said  'Poor  fellow! '  as  if  I  had 
been  a  dog.  I  was  as  well  raised  as  any  of  them,  even 
if  I  am  a  common  soldier." 

I  thought  his  recovery  very  doubtful,  and  talked  to 
draw  his  thoughts  to  the  better  land.  To  his  charges 
against  his  native  land,  I  said:  "I  am  a  Pennsylva- 
nian;  and  more  than  that,  the  Governor  of  Pennsyl 
vania  sent  me  to  you;  bade  me  come  to-night,  that  you 
might  know  he  had  not  forgotten  you." 

"  He  did?  Why,  liow  did  he  know  anything  about 
it?" 

"  He  just  knows  all  about  it,  and  lias  been  caring 
for  you  all  this  time.  I  do  not  mean  Andy  Curtin. 
He  is  nothing  but  a  subaltern;  but  the  dear  Lord,  our 
Father  in  Heaven,  who  never  forgets  us,  though  he 
often  afflicts  us.  He  sent  me  to  you  now,  that  you 
might  know  he  loves  you.  It  was  he  who  made  me 
love  you  and  care  to  help  you.  All  the  love  and  care 
that  come  to  you  are  a  part  of  his  love." 

"  He  wept  afresh  but  less  bitterly,  and  said : 

"  Oh  you  will  think  I  am  a  baby !" 

"  Well!  That  is  just  what  you  ought  to  be.  Your 
past  life  is  sufficient  certificate  of  manhood;  and  now 


Two  TREATMENTS.  273 

has  come  jour  time  to  be  a  baby,  while  I  am  mother. 
You  have  been  lying  here  like  an  engine,  under  a  high 
pressure  of  steam,  and  the  safety- valv.e  fastened  down 
with  a  billet  of  wood,  until  there  has  been  almost  an 
explosion.  Now  just  take  away  that  stick  of  wood — 
your  manhood  and  pride,  and  let  out  all  the  groans  and 
tears  }^ou  have  pent  in  your  heart.  Cry  all  you  can ! 
This  is  your  time  for  crying!" 

When  I  had  talked  him  into  a  mood  to  let  me  feel 
if  his  feet  were  warm,  I  found  that  wounded  limb  dread 
fully  swollen,  cold  almost  as  death,  stretched  out  as  he 
lay  on  his  back,  and  a  cushion  right  under  the  heel. 
Had  there  been  no  wound  the  position  must  have  been 
unendurable.  Without  letting  him  know,  I  drew  that 
cushion  up  until  it  filled  the  hollow  between  the  heel 
and  calf  of  the  leg,  and  supported  the  strained  muscle, 
tucked  a  handful  of  oakum  under  the  knee,  moved  the 
toes,  brushed  and  rubbed  the  foot,  until  circulation 
started,  sponged  it,  rolled  it  in  flannel,  of  which  I  had 
a  supply  in  my  basket,  washed  the  well  foot,  and  put 
a  warm  woolen  sock  on  it,  arranged  the  cover  so  that 
it  would  not  rest  on  the  toes  of  the  sore  leg ;  told  him 
to  get  the  new  surgeon  next  morning  to  make  a  large 
opening  on  the  lower  side  of  his  thigh,  where  the 
bullet  had  gone  out — to  ask  him  to  cut  lengthwise 
of  the  muscle;  get  out  everything  he  could,  that 
ought  not  to  be  in  there;  keep  that  opening  open 
with  a  roll  of  bandage,  so  that  old  Mother  Nature 
should  have  a  trap-door  through  which  she  could 
throw  her  chips  out  of  that  work-shop  in  his  thigh;  to 
be  sure  and  not  hint  to  the  surgeon  that  I  had  said 
anything  about  it,  and  not  fail  to  have  it  done. 
18 


274  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

I  left  him  asleep,  and  the  next  day  he  told  me  the 
surgeon  had  taken  a  quart  of  pus  and  several  pieces 
of  woolen  cloth  out  of  his  wound,  and  his  recovery 
was  rapid. 

CHAPTER   LX. 

COST    OF    ORDER. 

IN  making  molds  and  rests  for  mangled  limbs,  I 
had  large  demands  for  little  cushions,  and  without 
economy  could  not  get  enough.  When  one  just  fitted 
a  place  I  wanted  to  keep  it,  and  to  do  this,  must  have 
it  aired,  perhaps  washed.  To  avoid  lint  dressings,  I 
hunted  pieces  of  soft,  table  linen,  gave  to  patients 
pieces  to  suit,  and  as  the  supply  was  short  they  would 
get  nurses  and  surgeons  to  leave  their  pieces  of  linen, 
after  dressing  their  wounds  until  I  should  take  charge, 
and  have  them  cleansed  for  next  time.  To  do  all  this,  I 
must  use  the  grass-plats  and  railings  for  airing  and 
drying  cushions  and  rags.  These  plats  and  railings 
were  for  ornament,  and  there  was  soon  a  protest  against 
putting  them  to  "  such  vile  uses."  I  had  gone  into 
the  hospital  with  the  stupid  notion  that  its  primary 
object  was  the  care  and  comfort  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 
It  was  long  after  that  I  learned  that  a  vast  majority 
of  all  benevolent  institutions  are  gotten  up  to  gratify 
the  asthetic  tastes  of  the  public;  exhibit  the  wealth 
and  generosity  of  the  founders,  and  furnish  places  for 
officers.  The  beneficiaries  of  the  institutions  are 
simply  an  apology  for  their  existence,  and  having  fur 
nished  that  apology,  the  less  said  about  them  the 
better. 


COST  OF  OEDEE.  275 

The  surgeons  of  Campbell  did  really  want  its  pa 
tients  to  be  happy  and  get  well;  but  it  was  a  model 
institution,  with  a  reputation  to  sustain;  was  part  of  a 
system  under  general  laws,  which  might  not  be  broken 
with  impunity.  There  was  no  law  against  a  man  dying 
for  want  of  sleep  from  pain  caused  by  misplaced 
muscle;  but  the  statutes  against  litter  were  inexorable 
as  those  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  The  Campbell 
surgeons  winked  at  my  litter,  until  one  regular  in 
spection  day,  when  rny  cushions  and  rags,  clean  and 
unclean,  those  marked  John  Smith,  and  those  labeled 
Tom  Brown,  were  all  huddled  up  and  stuffed  en  masse 
into  the  pantry  closet. 

I  used  to  wonder  if  the  Creator  had  invented  a  new 
variety  of  idiot,  and  made  a  lot  in  order  to  supply  the 
army  with  medical  inspectors,  or,  if  by  some  cunning 
military  device,  the  Surgeon-General  had  been  able  to 
select  all  those  conglomerations  of  official  dignity  and 
asinine  stupidity,  from  the  open  donkey-market  of  the 
world.  Inspecting  a  hospital  was  just  like  investiga 
ting  an  Indian  fraud.  The  man  whose  work  was  to 
be  inspected  or  investigated,  met  the  inspector  or  in 
vestigator  at  the  door,  showed  him  all  he  wished  him 
to  see  and  examine  witnesses  wholly  in  his  power — 
when  the  inspected  and  inspector,  the  investigated  and 
investigator  exchanged  compliments,  and  the  pub 
lic  were  gratified  to  learn  that  all  was  in  a  most  grati 
fying  condition  of  perfect  order. 

One  day  we  had  a  particularly  searching  inspection, 
and  next  day  nurse  told  me  of  some  four  new  cases 
which  had  been  brought  in  a  week  before,  one  of 
whom  the  inspectors  said  was  past  hope.  I  found  his 


276  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

feet  and  legs  with  a  crust  on  them  like  the  shell  of  a 
snail;  had  a  piece  of  rubber  cloth  laid  under  them, 
and  with  tepid  water,  a  good  crash  towel,  and  plenty 
of  rubbing,  got  down  to  the  skin,  which  I  rubbed 
well  with  lard.  Then  with  fresh  towels  and  water  at 
hand,  I  drew  away  the  sheet  in  which  the  patient  had 
rolled  his  head,  and  while  I  washed  his  head  and 
arms  and  breast,  I  talked,  and  he  tried  to  answer; 
but  it  was  some  time  before  he  could  steady  his  tongue 
and  lips  so  as  to  articulate,  and  when  he  did,  his  first 
words  were: 

"  Are  you  the  woman  that 's  been  a-washin'  my 
feet?" 

"  That  is  exactly  what  I  have  been  doing,  and  much 
need  they  had  of  it.  Do  you  not  think  you  are  a  pret 
ty  fellow  to  have  me  come  all  the  way  from  Minnesota 
to  wash  your  feet  \ " 

It  was  with  much  effort  he  could  fix  his  dazed  eyes 
on  my  face,  and  he  made  several  pitiful  attempts  be 
fore  he  succeeded  in  sajdng: 

"  I  think  ye'r  the  best  woman  that  ever  I  saw! " 

"  Ah,  that  is  because  you  never  saw  much,  away  out 
there  in  Yenango  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  you 
live.  There  are  thousands  of  better  wromen  than  I, 
running  around  hunting  work,  in  this  part  of  the  coun 
try." 

"Is  there?" 

"Yes,  indeed;  and  nothing  for  them  to  do!" 

"  I  never  saw  none  uv  'ein! " 

"  That  is  because  you  have  had  your  head  rolled  up 
in  that  sheet.  Just  keep  your  head  uncovered,  so  you 
can  breathe  this  nice,  fresh  air;  open  your  eyes  every 


COST  OF  ORDER.  277 

little  while,  and  you  will  see  a  whole  row  of  those  wo 
men,  all  hunting  work! " 

He  seemed  quite  interested,  and  when  I  had  done 
washing  and  given  directions  to  a  nurse  to  cleanse  the 
balance  of  his  person,  I  asked  if  there  was  anything 
more  I  could  do  for  him,  when  he  stammered: 

"  Not  unless  you  could  get  me  a  cup  of  tea — a  cup 
of  good  green  tea,  'thout  any  milk  or  sugar  in  it.  If 
you  do,  I  '11  pay  you  for  it." 

"Pay  me  for  it,  will  you?  and  how  much  will  you 
give  me — three  cents?  " 

"  Oh,  1  '11  give  you  twenty-five  cents." 

"  Twenty-five  cents  for  a  cup  of  good  green  tea,  with 
out  any  milk  or  sugar  in  it! " 

I  called  the  ward  to  witness  the  bargain,  said  I 
should  grow  rich  at  that  rate,  and  hurried  off  for  the 
tea. 

I  had  a  little  silver  tray  and  tea-set,  with  two  china 
cups.  Mrs.  Gangewer,  of  the  Ohio  Aid  Societ}T, 
had  sent  me  a  tin  tea-kettle  and  spirit-lamp;  folks  at 
a  distance  had  sent  plenty  of  the  best  tea;  and  that 
little  tea-tray  had  become  a  prominent  feature  of 
Campbell  long  before  this  poor  fellow  specified  his 
want.  I  made  the  tray  unusually  attractive  that  day, 
and  fed  him  his  tea  from  a  spoon,  while  he  admired  the 
tiny  pot,  out  of  which,  with  the  aid  of  the  kettle,  I 
could  furnish  twenty  cups  of  good  tea.  "When  I  had 
served  all  in  that  ward  who  wanted  tea,  the  first  one 
took  a  second  cup,  and  while  taking  it  his  skin  grew 
moist,  and  I  knew  he  was  saved  from  that  death  of 
misplaced  matter  vulgarly  called  "  dirt,"  to  which  well- 
paid  medical  inspectors  had  consigned  him,  while  giv- 


278  HALF  A  CENTUET. 

ing  their  invaluable  scientific  attention  to  floor-scrub 
bing  and  bed -making,  to  whitewashing  and  laundry 
work. 

I  doubt  if  there  were  a  Medical  Inspector  in  the 
army  who  was  not  a  first  rate  judge  of  the  art  of  fold 
ing  and  ironing  a  sheet  or  pillow-slip;  of  the  particular 
tuck  which  brought  out  the  outlines  of  the  corners  of 
a  mattress,  as  seen  through  a  counterpane;  and  of  the 
art  and  mystery  of  cleaning  a  floor.  It  did  seem  as  if 
they  had  all  reached  office  through  their  great  profi 
ciency  as  cabin-boys. 

Next  day  I  went  to  that  ward  with  my  tea-tray ;  and 
after  learning  that  that  man  had  been  washed  once 
more,  asked  him  if  he  wanted  another  cup  of  tea. 

"  I  'd  like  to  have  one, "  he  stammered;  "  but  I  didn't 
pay  you  for  the  last  one,  and  I  can 't  find  my  wallet! " 

I  saw  the  debt  troubled  him,  and  took  this  as  one 
more  evidence  that  somewhere  there  were  people  who 
sold  hospital  stores  to  sick  soldiers.  So  I  took  pains 
to  explain  that  he  owed  me  nothing;  that  the  tea  was 
his — ladies  had  sent  it  to  me  to  give  to  him — and  all  the 
pay  they  wanted  was  for  him  to  get  well,  and  go  home 
to  his  mother. 

The  idea  that  some  one  was  thinking  for  him  seemed 
to  do  him  almost  as  much  good  as  the  tea. 

I  left  Campbell  next  day,  but  on  my  first  visit  found 
him  convalescing,  and  on  the  second  visit  he  ran  down 
the  ward  holding  his  sides  and  laughing,  and  I  saw  or 
heard  of  him  no  more. 


LEARN  TO  CONTROL  PIEMIA.  279 

CHAPTEK    LXI. 

LEARN  TO  CONTROL  PIEMIA. 

ABOUT  ten  days  after  I  went  to  Campbell,  I  was 
called  at  midnight  to  a  death-bed.  It  was  a  case  of 
flesh-wound  in  the  thigh,  and  the  whole  limb  was 
swollen  almost  to  bursting,  so  cold  as  to  startle  by  the 
touch,  and  almost  as  transparent  as  glass.  I  knew  this 
was  piernia  and  that  for  it  medical  science  had  no 
cure;  but  I  wanted  to  warm  that  cold  limb,  to  call 
circulation  back  to  that  inert  mass.  The  first  thought 
was  warm,  wet  compresses,  hot  bricks,  hot  flannel; 
but  the  kitchen  was  locked,  and  it  was  little  I  could 
do  without  fire,  except  to  receive  and  write  down  his 
dying  messages  to  parents,  and  the  girl  who  was  wait 
ing  to  be  his  wife. 

When  the  surgeon's  morning  hour  came  he  still 
lived;  and  at  my  suggestion  the  warm  compresses 
were  applied.  He  said,  "  they  feel  so  good,"  and  was 
quite  comforted  by  them,  but  died  about  ten  o'clock. 
I  was  greatly  grieved  to  think  he  had  suffered  from 
cold  the  last  night  of  life,  but  how  avoid  any  number 
of  similar  occurrences?  There  was  no  artificial  heat 
in  any  of  the  wards.  A  basin  of  warm  water  was  only 
to  be  obtained  by  special  favor  of  the  cooks;  but  they 
had  been  very  courteous.  The  third  day  of  my  ap 
pearance  among  them,  one  looked  up  over  the  edge  of 
the  tub  over  which  he  bent,  washing  potatoes,  and 
said,  as  I  stood  waiting  for  hot  water, 

"  Do  you  know  what  you  look  like  going  around 
here  among  us  fellows  ? " 


280  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 


!  bnt  nothing  dreadful  I  hope." 

"  You  just  look  like  an  angel,  and  that's  what  we 
all  think;  we're  ever  so  much  better  since  you  came.1" 

The  memory  of  this  speech  gave  me  courage  to  go 
and  lay  my  trouble  before  the  cooks,  who  gathered  to 
hear  me  tell  the  story  of  that  death,  the  messages 
left  for  the  friends  who  should  see  him  no  more,  and 
of  my  sorrow  that  I  could  not  drive  away  the  cold  on 
that  last,  sad  night. 

They  all  wiped  their  eyes  on  their  aprons;  head  cook 
went  to  a  cupboard,  brought  a  key  and  handed  it  to 
me,  saying: 

"There,  mother,  is  a  key  of  this  kitchen;  come  in 
here  whenever  you  please.  We  will  always  find  room 
on  the  ranges  for  your  bricks,  and  I'll  have  something 
nice  in  the  cupboard  every  night  for  you  and  the 
nurses. 

This  proved  to  be  the  key  to  the  situation,  and  after 
I  received  that  bit  of  metal  from  cook,  there  was  not 
one  death  from  piemia  in  any  ward  where  I  was  free 
to  work,  although  I  have  had  as  many,  I  think,  as 
sixty  men  struck  with  the  premonitary  chill,  in  one 
night.  I  concluded  that  "piemia"  was  French  for 
neglect,  and  that  the  antidote  was  warmth,  nourishing 
food,  stimulants,  friction,  fresh  air  and  cheerfulness, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  if  death  wanted  to  get 
a  man  out  of  my  hands,  he  must  send  some  other 
agent  than  piemia.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  medical 
theory  concerning  it;  do  not  believe  pus  ever  gets  in 
to  the  veins,  or  that  there  is  any  poison  about  it,  ex 
cept  that  of  ignorance  and  indifference  on  the  part  of 
doctors  and  nurses. 


FIRST  CASE  or  GROWING  A  NEW  BONE.      281 


CHAPTEE  LXII. 

FIRST  CASE  OF  GROWING  A  NEW  BONE. 

I  HAD  searched  for  Minnesota  men  in  Campbell, 
found  none,  and  had  been  there  a  week,  when  Mrs. 
Kelsey  told  me  there  was  one  in  ward  ten,  credited  to 
a  Wisconsin  regiment;  and  from  him  I  learned  that 
he  was  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  my  friends,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bancroft,  of  Mantorville,  and  my  conscience  re 
proached  me  for  not  sooner  finding  him ;  but  the  second 
day  Mrs.  Gay  lord  came,  as  a  messenger  from  the  sur 
geons,  to  tell  me  I  need  not  spend  time  and  strength 
on  him,  as  he  could  not  be  saved. 

His  was  a  thigh  wound.  They  had  thought  to  am 
putate,  but  found  the  bone  shattered  from  joint  to  joint 
— had,  with  a  chain  saw,  cut  it  off  above  the  knee,  and 
picked  out  the  bone  in  pieces.  There  was  a  splinter 
attached  to  the  upper  joint,  but  that  was  all  the  bone 
left  in  the  thigh,  and  the  injury  was  one  from  which 
recovery  was  impossible.  His  father,  a  doctor,  was 
visiting  him,  and  knew  he  must  die. 

I  went  to  the  patient,  who  said: 

"  Dr.  True,  the  ward  surgeon  has  just  been  here, 
and  tells  me  I  must  die!" 

I  sat  by  him  fitting  the  measure  I  had  been  taking 
for  two  days  to  this  new  aspect  of  the  case,  and  talk 
ing  of  death,  and  the  preparation  for  it,  until  I  thought 
I  understood  the  case,  when  I  said: 

"  Be  ready  for  death,  as  every  one  of  any  sense  should 
always  be;  but  I  do  not  intend  to  let  you~die." 


282  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

"  I  guess  you  cannot  help  it!  All  the  surgeons  and 
father  agree  that  there  is  no  hope  for  me." 

"  But  they  are  all  liable  to  be  mistaken,  and  none  of 
them  have  taken  into  the  account  your  courage  and 
recuperative  force ;  your  good  life  and  good  conscience ; 
your  muscle,  like  a  pine  log;  your  pure  breath;  your 
clear  skin  and  good  blood.  I  do  not  care  what  they 
say,  you  will  live;  I  will  not  let  you  die!" 

I  found  Dr.  Baxter,  and  said: 

"  I  want  you  to  save  Corporal  Kendall!" 

"  Corporal  Kendall!  who  is  he?  " 

"  The  man  out  of  whose  thigh  you  took  the  bone 
last  week." 

His  face  grew  sad,  but  he  said: 

"  Oh,  we  mean  to  save  them  all  if  we  can." 

"  Doctor,  that  is  no  answer.  I  am  interested  in  this 
man,  know  his  friends  arid  want  to  understand  his  case. 
If  I  can  keep  his  stomach  in  good  working  order  and 
well  supplied  with  blood-making  food,  keep  away  chills 
and  keep  down  pain,  so  that  he  can  sleep,  will  he  not 
get  well?" 

He  laughed  and  replied: 

"  "Well,  I  really  never  heard  of  a  man  dying  under 
such  circumstances." 

"  I  can  do  that,  doctor." 

"  If  you  can  you  will  save  him,  of  course,  and  we 
will  give  him  to  you." 

"But,  doctor,  you  must  do  all  the  surgery.  I  must 
not  give  him  pain ;  cannot  see  that  wound." 

"  Oh,  certainly,  we  will  do  everything  in  our  power; 
but  he  is  yours,  for  we  have  no  hope  of  saving  him." 

"  Another  thing,  doctor;  you  will  have  him  brought 
to  Ward  Four."  " 


FIRST  CASE  OF  GROWING  A  NEW  BONE.      283 

He  gave  the  order  at  once,  adding:  "  Put  him  to 
the  right  of  Howard  " — a  young  Philadelphian  with  a 
thigh  stump,  who  was  likely  to  die  of  hemorrhage, 
and  whose  jerking  nerves  I  could  soothe  and  quiet 
better  than  any  one  else. 

By  this  arrangement  the  man  minus  a  thigh  bone 
was  placed  in  the  center  of  my  field  of  labor,  and 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Kelly;  but  full  ten  days  after 
this  arrangement  was  made,  he  came  with  a  rueful  face 
and  said: 

"  We  have  consulted  the  Surgeon- General,  Medical 
Inspector,  and  a  dozen  other  surgeons  outside  the  hos 
pital,  and  they  all  agree  that  there  is  no  hope  for  Ken 
dall.  The  surgeons  here  have  commissioned  me  to  tell 
you,  for  we  think  yon  ought  to  know.  We  all  appre 
ciate  what  you  are  doing,  and  think  you  will  save  all 
your  other  men  if  you  live,  but  you  cannot  stand  this 
strain  long.  You  do  not  know  it;  but  there  is  a  limit 
to  your  powers  of  endurance,  and  you  are  breaking. 
You  certainly  will  die  if  you  keep  on  as  you  have 
been  going,  and  it  is  not  worth  your  while  to  kill 
yourself  for  Kendall,  for  you  cannot  save  him." 

"  What  is  the  reason  he  cannot  be  saved?" 

"  Well,  there  are  several  reasons.  First,  I  performed 
the  operation,  and  did  not  do  it  as  thoroughly  as  I 
washed.  He  was  coming  out  from  under  the  influence 
of  the  chloroform,  and  they  hurried  me.  The  case 
was  hopeless,  and  no  use  to  give  him  pain,  so  there  are 
several  pieces  of  bone  which  I  failed  to  find.  These 
are  driven  into  the  flesh,  and  nature  in  trying  to  get  rid 
of  them  will  get  up  such  excessive  suppuration  that  he 
must  die  of  exhaustion.  Then  there  is  the  thigh  with- 


284  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

out  a  "bone,  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  books  to  war 
rant  a  hope  that  it  could  heal  in  that  condition.  We 
could  not,  in  any  case,  hope  for  the  formation  of  a 
new  bone.  There  are  re-sections  of  two  inches,  but 
this  is  the  longest  new  formation  of  which  we  know 
anything,  and  in  this  case  there  can  be  no  hope,  be 
cause  the  periosteum  is  destroyed." 

"  Periosteum,  doctor.     What  is  that,  again? " 

"  It  is  the  bone-feeder;  the  strong  membrane  which 
incloses  the  bone,  and  through  which  it  is  made.  In 
this  case  it  is  absolutely  destroyed,  removed,  torn  to 
shreds — gone.  So  there  are  several  reasons  why  he 
cannot  be  saved." 

"  Doctor  Kelly,  do  you  intend  to  let  him  lie  there 
and  die?" 

"  Oh  no!  oh  no!  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  for  him. 
I  am  paid  for  that;  it  is  my  duty;  but  it  is  not  your 
duty  to  sacrifice  your  own  life  in  a  vain  effort  to  save 
another." 

"  Doctor  Kelly,  he  shall  not  die;  I  will  not  let  him. 
I  know  nothing  about  your  books  and  bones;  but  he 
can  live  with  one  bone  wanting,  and  I  tell  you  he 
shall  not  die,  and  I  will  not  die  either." 

It  was  a  week  or  more  after  this  conversation  I  found 
my  patient,  one  morning,  w^ith  blue  lips  and  a  pinched 
nose,  and  said  to  him: 

"What  is  this?" 

"  Well,  I  had  a  chill  last  night." 

"A  chill  and  did  not  send  for  me?" 

"  You  were  here  until  after  midnight,  and  must  have 
some  rest. " 

"  Corporal  Kendall,  how  dare  you  talk  to  me  in  that 


FIEST  CASE  OF  GROWING  A  NEW  BONE.      285 

manner?  You  promised  to  send  for  me  if  there  were 
any  change  for  the  worse;  and  after  this  I  cannot  trust 
you.  Now  I  must  stay  here.  Do  you  think  I  am 
going  to  lose  my  investment  in  you?  Do  you  sup 
pose  I  would  work  over  you  as  I  have  been  doing,  and 
then  drop  you  for  fear  of  a  little  more  work? " 

As  I  passed  to  the  kitchen  I  found  that  blue  lips  and 
pinched  noses  had  suddenly  come  into  fashion;  that 
there  were  more  of  them  than  I  had  time  to  count;  but 
did  not,  for  a  moment,  dream  of  letting  a  man  get  into 
the  graveyard  by  that  gate. 

The  merry,  young  Irishman  who  had  volunteered  as 
my  orderly,  had  a  period  of  active  service;  and  no  more 
willing  pair  of  hands  and  feet  ever  were  interposed  be 
tween  men  and  death.  Hot  bricks,  hot  blankets,  bot 
tles  of  hot  water,  hot  whisky  punch  and  green  tea  were 
the  order  of  the  forenoon,  and  of  a  good  many  hours 
of  night  and  day  after  it ;  for  that  victory  was  won  by 
a  long  struggle.  For  ten  nights  I  never  lay  down  in 
my  room ;  but  slept,  all  I  did  sleep,  lying  on  a  cot  about 
the  center  of  Ward  Four,  and  two  cots  from  the  man 
minus  a  bone.  I  could  drop  asleep  in  an  instant,  and 
sleep  during  ordinary  movements;  but  a  change  in  a 
voice  brought  me  to  my  post  in  a  moment.  I  could 
command  anything  in  the  dispensary  or  store-rooms 
at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  and  carried  many  a 
man  through  the  crisis  of  a  night  attack,  when  if  he 
had  been  left  until  discovered  in  the  morning,  there 
would  have  been  little  hope  for  him ;  and  when  a  sur 
geon  could  have  done  nothing  without  a  key  to  the 
kitchen  which  none  of  them  had. 

I  kept  no  secrets  from  any  of  them :  told  each  one 


286  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

just  what  I  had  done  in  his  ward ;  thankfully  received 
his  approval  and  directions,  asked  about  things  I  did 
not  understand,  and  was  careful  that  my  nursing  was 
in  harmony  with  his  surgery. 

During  that  trial-time  there  was  one  night  that 
death  seemed  to  be  gaining  the  victory  in  Corporal 
Kendall's  case.  Pain  defied  my  utmost  efforts  and 
held  the  citadel.  Sleep  fled ;  the  circulation  grew  slug 
gish,  and  both  he  and  I  knew  that  the  result  hung  on 
the  hour.  It  was  two  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  from  mid 
night  1  had  been  trying  to  bring  rest.  The  injured 
limb  was  suspended  in  a  zinc  trough.  I  had  raised,  low 
ered  it  by  imperceptible  motions;  cut  bandage  where 
it  seemed  to  bind,  tucked  in  bits  of  cotton  or  oakum, 
kept  the  toes  in  motion,  irritated  the  surface  wherever 
I  could  get  the  point  of  a  finger  in  through  the  ban 
dages  ;  kept  up  the  heat  of  the  body,  and  the  hope  of 
the  soul;  and  sat  down  to  hold  his  hands  and  try  mes 
meric  passes  and  sounds,  when  he  turned  his  head  on 
the  pillow,  and  said: 

"  Even  if  I  should  get  well,  I'll  never  be  fit  for  in 
fantry  service  again." 

"  No,  you  never  will." 

"I  might  walk  with  that  machine  you  talk  of;  but 
never  could  march  and  carry  a  knap-sack!  But  I  have 
been  thinking.  I  am  a  pretty  good  engineer.  You 
know  Secretary  Stan  ton?  You  might  get  me  trans 
ferred  to  the  Navy,  and  I  could  run  an  engine  on  a 
gunboat." 

"  That  is  it,  exactly!  You  will  get  over  this !  I  will 
have  you  transferred  to  a  gunboat,  and  next  time  you 
will  go  into  the  Rebellion  prow  foremost.  You  ought 
to  be  at'work,  in  time  to  help  take  Charleston." 


A  HEROIC  MOTHER.  287 

"  I  continued  to  talk,  in  a  sing-song  croone,  to  stroke 
his  head,  and  hold  his  hand,  until  he  slept,  which  was 
but  a  few  moments  after  settling  that  transfer,  and 
the  last  time  I  saw  him,  which  was  in  '79,  he  got  over 
the  ground  and  up  and  down  stairs,  as  fast  as  most  peo 
ple,  his  new  bone  being  quite  as  good  as  any  of  the 
old  ones,  except  being  a  little  short  and  decidedly 
crooked,  although  the  crook  did  not  effect  its  useful 
ness  or  general  appearance. 


CHAPTER   LXIII. 

A    HEROIC   MOTHER. 

JAMES  BRIDE,  who  drew  me  to  Campbell,  by  asking  for 
"  something  to  quench  thirst,"  was  one  of  the  thousands 
who  died  of  flesh-wounds,  for  want  of  surgical  trap 
doors,  through  which  nature  might  throw  out  her  chips. 
His  wound  was  in  the  hip,  and  no  opening  ever  was 
made  to  the  center  of  the  injury,  except  that  made  by 
the  bullet  which  had  gone  in  and  staid  there. 

His  mother  came  three  days  before  he  died,  and  be 
ing  minus  hoops  and  finery,  the  ward  surgeon  was 
anxious  she  should  remain  with  her  son,  and  we 
arranged  that  she  should  sleep  in  my  room.  There 
was  just  space  between  the  cot  and  wall  for  the  breadth 
of  a  mattress,  and  when  the  door  was  shut,  that  space 
was  long  enough  for  me  to  lie  between  the  door  and 
the  stand.  I  have  never  entertained  a  guest  more 
cheerfully,  or  one  by  whose  presence  I  felt  more  hon 
ored;  yet  the  traveling  costume  was  a  short  calico 
dress,  strong  leather  shoes  and  blue  woolen  stockings, 


288  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

visible  below  the  dress,  a  gingham  sunbonnet  and 
double-bordered  cap  tied  under  her  chin. 

Several  richly  dressed  ladies  carne  from  Eastern  cities 
to  see  dying  relatives,  but  to  none  of  them  were  the 
surgeons  so  thoroughly  respectful,  as  to  this  plain, 
strong,  clean,  high-souled  country-woman,  who  staid 
with  her  son,  and  was  hailed  with  joy  by  all  the  men 
in  his  ward,  to  every  one  of  whom  she  was  sympathetic 
and  helpful. 

Her  case  was  hard.  She  and  her  husband,  who  was 
old  and  feeble,  had  just  three  sons,  two  strong  and  vig 
orous,  one  a  cripple.  Their  two  vigorous  sons  enlisted 
together,  and  fell  in  the  charge  on  Marie's  Hill,  within 
ten  feet  and  ten  minutes  of  each  other.  "William  was 
buried  on  the  battle-field,  and  she  had  come  to  see 
James  die  in  hospital. 

When  all  was  over  and  her  boy  was  carried  to  the 
dead  house,  they  brought  her  to  me,  and  I  have  never 
heard  such  pathetic,  eloquent  expressions  of  grief  as 
those  she  poured  forth  in  that  little,  rough,  barrack- 
room. 

"Oh,  William!  William!"  she  sobbed,  "You  are 
lying,  to-night,  in  your  bloody  grave,  and  your  mother 
will  never  know  where  it  is!  and  you,  James!  you 
were  my  first-born,  but  I  cannot  go  to  you  now,  where 
you  lie  in  the  darkness  among  the  dead!  Oh,  but  it 
is  a  sad  story  I  must  carry  to  your  old  father,  to  bring 
his  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave.  Who  can  we 
lean  upon,  in  our  old  age?  Who  will  take  care  of 
Johnny  when  we  are  gone?  Oh,  it  is  a  hard,  hard  lot." 

She  wrung  her  hands,  bowed  over  her  knees,  in  a 
paroxysm  of  tears,  then  raised  herself,  threw  back  her 
head,  and  exclaimed. 


Two  KINDS  OF  APPRECIATION.  289 

"But  oh!  boys  dear,  would  n't  I  rather  you  were 
where  you  are  this  night,  than  that  you  had  thrown 
down  your  guns  and  run !  " 


CHAPTER    LXIY. 

TWO  KINDS  OF  APPRECIATION. 

LOOKING  down  the  long  vista  of  memory,  to  the 
many  faces  turned  to  me  from  beds  of  pain,  I  find  few 
to  which  I  can  attacli  a  name,  and  one  I  seem  never 
to  have  looked  upon  but  once.  It  is  a  long,  sallow 
face,  surmounted  by  bushy,  yellow  hair;  it  has  a 
clear,  oval  outline,  and  straight  nose,  brown  eyes  and 
a  down  of  young  manhood  on  the  wasted,  trembling 
lips;  I  knew  it  then,  as  the  face  of  a  fever  patient,  but 
not  one  to  whom  I  had  rendered  any  special  service, 
and  felt  surprised  when  the  trembling  lips  said,  in  a 
pitiful,  pleading  way. 

"  We  boys  has  been  a  talkin'  about  you!" 

"  Have  you,  my  dear — and  what  have  you  boys  been 
saying  about  me?" 

"  We've  jist  been  a  sayin'  that  good  many  ladies 
has  been  kind  to  us,  but  none  uv  'em  ever  loved  us 
but  you!" 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  do  not  know  how  it  is  with  the 
other  ladies,  but  I  am  sure  I  do  love  you  very,  very 
dearly!  You  do  not  know  half  how  much  I  love 
you." 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  do!  yes,  we  do!  we  know  'at  you  don't 
take  care  uv  us  'cause  it's  your  juty!  you  jist  do  it 
'cause  vou  love  to ! " 
19 


290  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"That  is  it  exactly— just  because  I  love  to,  and  be 
cause  I  want  you  to  get  well  and  go  to  your  mothers." 

"  Yes !  but  the  boys  says  you  don't  care  about  'em 
when  they  get  well." 

"  They  do  not  need  to  have  me  care  for  them  when 
they  are  well." 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  do!  yes,  they  do!  an'  if  that's  the 
way  you're  a  goin'  to  serve  me,  I'll  stay  sick  a  long 
time." 

When  hospital  stores  came  to  me  so  fast  that  there 
was  great  trouble  in  getting  them  wisely  distributed, 
Campbell  lent  me  an  ambulance  to  go  around,  see 
where  they  were  needed,  and  supply  as  many  as  I  could. 
I  had  a  letter  from  an  old  Pittsburg  neighbor,  asking 
me  to  see  his  brother  in  Douglas  Hospital,  and  went 
in  an  ambulance  well  supplied  with  jellies  and  fruit. 

Douglas  Hospital  was  an  institution  of  which  the 
city  was  proud.  It  had  much  finer  buildings  than 
any  other  in  the  city,  occupied  the  finest  residence 
block  in  the  city,  and  had  a  wide  reputation  for  gran 
deur  and  beauty  and  superb  management.  I  found 
the  halls  and  rooms  quite  as  elegant  as  I  had  any  rea 
son  to  expect,  but  was  surprised  to  find  that  elegance 
undisturbed  by  the  presence  of  sick  or  wounded  men. 
In  one  back  room  a  wounded  officer  looked  lonely, 
and  they  said  there  were  other  rooms  used  for  sick 
soldiers,  but  all  I  saw  were  parlors,  reception  rooms, 
offices  and  sleeping  apartments  for  surgeons,  and  the 
Lady  Abbess,  with  her  attendant  Sisters  of  Mercy  or 
Charity. 

After  we  had  strolled  through  several  sumptuous 
apartments,  we  were  taken  out  into  the  adjoining 


Two  KINDS  OF  APPRECIATION.  291 

square,  where  there  were  large  barracks  as  white 
as  lime  and  brushes  could  make  them,  and  making  a 
pretty  picture  among  the  trees.  Inside,  the  walls  were 
white  as  on  the  outside,  and  the  pictures  already  up, 
as  well  as  those  just  being  put  up,  were  bright  as 
bright  could  be.  Indeed,  I  do  not  know  how  pictures 
could  have  been  greener  or  bluer  or  yellower  or  red 
der,  and  when  the  show-off  man  called  my  attention 
to  them,  as  calculated  to  make  the  place  cheerful;  I 
recognized  their  merit,  but  suggested  that  some  paper 
blinds  might  be  desirable  to  keep  the  sun  from  shin 
ing  into  the  faces  of  the  men  who  lay  on  the  cots. 

The  roof  or  walls  did  not  seem  well  calculated  to 
keep  out  wind  or  rain,  but  paper  blinds  would  ward 
off  sunshine.  From  the  condition  of  the  floor,  it  was 
evident  that  the  demon  of  the  scrubbing  brush,  which 
has  possession  of  all  model  institutions,  had  full  sway 
in  Douglas  barracks.  Pine  boards  could  not  well 
have  been  made  whiter.  ~No  laundry  man  need  have 
feared  to  own  to  the  doing  up  of  the  bed  linen  and 
counterpanes,  and  science  had  not  discovered  any 
mode  of  making  a  bed  look  more  like  a  packing  box, 
than  those  in  that  model  hospital. 

"What  an  impertinence  a  sick  or  wounded  man  was, 
in  one  of  those  nice,  square  beds.  He  was  almost 
certain  to  muss  and  toss  it,  and  this  must  have  been  a 
crowning  calamity. 

After  the  showman  had  shown  all  he  cared  to  have 
me  see,  I  sat  talking  with  the  man  I  had  come  to  vis 
it,  and  he  said,  in  a  whisper: 

"  Are  there  lice  in  all  the  hospitals?" 

"Lice?    "Why,  certainly  not." 


292  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

"  Well,  tliere  are  plenty  of  them  here,  and  they  tell 
us  they  cannot  be  helped — that  they  have  them  in  all 
the  hospitals.  Look  here!" 

He  turned  down  the  nice  counterpane,  and  there,  in 
the  blanket,  the  disgusting  creatures  swarmed.  I  was 
shocked,  and  half  rose,  in  the  impulse  to  make  an 
outcry,  but  he  warned  me  not  to  let  any  one  kno\\»he 
had  told  me,  or  it  would  be  bad  for  him.  I  asked 
why  he  did  not  tell  the  surgeon. 

"  He  knows  all  about  them,  and  says  they  cannot 
be  helped." 

"  You  have  Sisters  of  Charity  here;  tell  them." 

"  Oh,  they  never  do  anything  in  the  ward  but  walk 
around  and  talk  nice,  and  pray  with  men  who  are  go 
ing  to  die.  They  must  know  about  them." 

I  walked  around  alone,  and  the  show-man  did  not 
seem  to  like  it,  but  I  talked  with  the  men  in  the  cots, 
put  my  hand  under  the  cover,  found  feet  encrusted 
with  the  exudations  of  fever,  until  they  were  hard  and 
dry  as  a  bit  of  kindling  wood;  hair  full  of  dust  from 
the  battle-field,  and  not  one  man  who  had  been  washed 
since  being  carried  away  from  it;  while  there  were 
vermin  in  every  bed. 

The  ward -master  objected  to  my  leaving  a  jar  of 
jelly  with  my  friend.  It  would  spoil  the  good  order 
of  the  ward,  and  all  delicacies  were  to  be  given  into 
the  care  of  the  Sisters.  I  found  one  of  them  who  was 
quite  willing  to  take  charge  of  anything  I  wished  to 
leave,  but  was  powerless  in  the  matter  of  vermin.  It 
was  the  ward  master's  business  to  attend  to  that.  It 
was  the  business  of  the  Sisters  to  look  after  the  cloth 
ing  when  it  came  from  the  laundry,  put  it  in  order, 
and  give  it  out  when  wanted. 


Two  KINDS  OF  APPRECIATION.  293 

My  failure  to  get  a  bed  for  the  man  in  the  fort  by 
applying  to  those  in  authority,  made  me  feel  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  try  that  plan  abou  t  the  vermin ; 
and,  in  my  perplexity,  I  turned  to  my  old  friend  and 
confidant,  the  public.  To  reach  it,  I  wrote  to  the  New 
~York  Tribune )  giving  a  very  mild  statement  of  the 
case. 

Two  days  after  Surgeon  Baxter  came,  with  a  copy 
of  that  letter,  and  told  me  he  had  been  ordered  to  dis 
charge  me  on  account  of  it.  I  spoke  of  the  men  who 
must  die  if  I  left,  and  he  was  sorry  but  had  no  option. 
Then  he  bethought  him  that  maybe  I  might  get  the 
Surgeon-General  to  permit  me  to  remain,  at  least  un 
til  the  cases  of  my  special  patients  were  settled;  oth 
erwise  I  must  leave  the  hospital  that  day.  He  was 
sorry  I  had  dated  the  letter  from  Campbell,  had  it  not 
been  for  this,  he  could  use  his  influence  to  sustain 
me;  but  professional  etiquette  forbade  him  to  harbor 
or  countenance  one  who  spoke  unfavorably  of  a  broth 
er-surgeon.  In  other  words,  by  living  in  a  hospital  I 
became  one  of  a  ring,  bound  to  keep  hospital  secrets, 
and  use  only  words  of  commendation  in  speaking  or 
writing  of  anything  I  saw. 

I  took  a  street  car  and  proceeded  to  the  office  of  the 
Surgeon-General — saw  the  man  who  held  the  lives  of 
my  patients  in  his  hands,  ate  the  only  piece  of  humble 
pie  that  ever  crossed  my  lips,  by  apologizing  for  tell 
ing  the  truth,  and  got  permission  to  go  back  to  the 
men  who  looked  to  me  for  lite. 

I  have  felt  that  I  made  a  great  mistake — felt  that  if 
I  had  then  and  there  made  war  to  the  knife,  and  the 
knife  to  the  hilt,  against  the  whole  system  of  fraud 


294  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  cruelty  embodied  in  the  hospital  service,  I  should 
have  saved  many  more  lives  in  the  end.  Even  while 
I  talked  to  the  head  of  that  nest  of  corruption,  and 
listened  to  his  inane  platitudes  about  my  duty  as  an 
inmate  of  a  hospital  to  report  abuses  to  him,  and  "  the 
regular  way  of  proceeding,"  I  did  want  to  hurl  the 
gauntlet  of  an  irregular  defiance  into  his  plausible 
face,  but  the  pleading  eyes  in  Campbell  held  me;  I 
could  not  let  those  men  die,  and  die  they  must  if  I 
must  leave  them. 

Nobody  denied  the  truth  of  my  statements  about 
Douglas  Hospital,  and  I  never  learned  that  any  one 
objected  to  the  facts  or  their  continuance.  It  was 
only  their  exposure  which  gave  offense. 

This  letter  made  me  an  object  of  dread.  Folks 
never  knew  what  I  might  see  or  say  next;  and  there 
soon  arose  another  trouble  about  my  living  in  Camp 
bell;  for  Miss  Dix  objected,  claimed  that  it  was  an  in 
fringement  on  her  authority.  Then  again,  there  were 
others  who  could  not  see  why  there  should  be  but  one 
female  nurse  in  Campbell.  Dr.  Baxter,  by  admitting 
me,  had  abandoned  his  ground,  acknowledged  that 
men  alone  could  not  manage  a  first-class  hospital; 
and  having  discovered  his  mistake,  was  bound  to  rec 
tify  it  by  admitting  a  corps  of  lady  nurses.  He  was 
bombarded  by  Miss  Dix's  official  power,  pestered  by 
the  persistant  appeals  of  volunteers;  sneered  and  scoffed 
at  and  worried,  until  he  fell  back  on  his  old  position, 
and  promptly  dismissed  me  so  soon  as  my  patients 
were  out  of  danger.  He  was  always  courteous  to  me 
as  a  visitor,  and  has  my  lasting  gratitude  and  respect 
for  breaking  his  rules  and  bearing  the  persecution  he 


LIFE  AND  DEATH.  295 

did,  that  I  might  do  the  work  I  did,  and  could  not 
have  done  without  his  effective  and  generous  co-op 
eration. 

The  proportion  of  thigh  stumps  saved,  was  the  test 
of  a  hospital's  success;  and  the  summer  I  was  in  Camp 
bell,  we  saved  nineteen  out  of  twenty;  next  summer 
Chaplain  Gaylord  told  me  they  lost  nineteen  in 
twenty,  and  added:  "  Piemia  has  literally  swept  our 
wards." 


CHAPTEK    LXY. 

LIFE  AND  DEATH. 

WHEN  released  from  the  hospital,  I  had  neither 
money  nor  clothes,  and  this  is  all  the  account  I  can  ren 
der  to  the  generous  people  who  sent  me  hospital  stores. 
I  could  not  answer  their  letters.  Some  of  them  I 
never  read.  I  could  only  give  up  my  life  to  distrib 
uting  their  bounty,  and  knew  that  neither  their  money 
nor  my  own  had  remained  in  my  hands  when  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  borrow  two  dollars  to  get  a  dress. 
My  cloth  traveling  suit  was  no  longer  fit  for  use,  and 
my  platform  suit  too  good.  These  were  all  1  had 
brought  to  Washington;  but  the  best  men  never  re 
fused  me  audience  because  I  wore  a  shaker  bonnet,  a 
black  lawn  skirt  and  gray  linen  sack.  Some  thought 
I  dressed  in  that  way  to  be  odd,  but  it  was  all  I  could 
afford. 

The  Quarter-Master-General  had  canceled  my  ap 
pointment,  because  I  had  not  reported  for  duty,  but 
Secretary  Stanton  reinstated  me,  and  I  went  to  work 


296  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

on  the  largest  salary  I  had  ever  received — fifty  dollars 
a  month.  After  some  time  it  was  raised  to  sixty,  and 
I  was  more  than  independent;  but  my  health  was  so 
broken  that  half  a  dozen  doctors  commanded  me  to 
lie  on  my  back  for  a  month,  and  I  spent  every  moment 
I  conld  in  that  position. 

I  had  grown  hysterical,  and  twice  while  at  work  in 
the  office,  broke  out  into  passionate  weeping,  while 
thinking  of  something  in  my  hospital  experience, 
something  I  had  borne,  when  it  occurred,  without  a 
tear,  or  even  without  feeling  a  desire  to  weep. 

In  September  I  had  twenty  days'  leave  of  absence  to 
go  to  St.  Cloud,  settle  my  business  and  bring  my 
household  gods.  There  were  still  no  railroads  in 
Minnesota,  and  I  was  six  days  going,  must  have  six  to 
return,  and  one  to  visit  friends  at  Pittsburg,  yet  in  the 
time  left,  sold  The  Democrat,  closed  my  home,  and 
met  Gen.  Lowrie  for  the  first  and  last  time. 

He  called  and  we  spent  an  hour  talking,  principally 
of  the  war,  which  he  thought  would  result  in  two  sep 
arate  governments.  His  reason  seemed  to  be  en 
tirely  restored;  but  his  prestige,  power,  wealth  and 
health  were  gone.  I  tried  to  avoid  all  personal  mat 
ters,  as  well  as  reference  to  our  quarrel,  but  he  broke 
into  the  conversation  to  say: 

"  I  am  the  only  person  who  ever  understood  you. 
People  now  think  you  go  into  hospitals  from  a  sense 
of  duty;  from  benevolence,  like  those  good  people  who 
expect  to  get  to  heaven  by  doing  disagreeable  things 
on  earth;  but  I  know  you  go  because  you  must;  go 
for  your  own  pleasure;  you  do  not  care  for  heaven  or 
anything  else,  but  yourself." 


LIFE  AND  DEATH.  2 97 

He  stopped,  looked  down,  traced  the  pattern  of  the 
carpet  with  the  point  of  his  cane,  then  raised  his  head 
and  continued:  "You  take  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded,  go  into  all  those  dreadful  places  just  as  I 
used  to  drink  brandy — for  sake  of  the  exhileration  it 
brings  you." 

We  shook  hands  on  parting,  and  from  our  inmost 
hearts,  I  am  sure,  wished  each  other  well.  I  was  more 
than  ever  impressed  by  the  genuine  greatness  of  the 
man,  who  had  been  degraded  by  the  use  of  irresponsi 
ble  power. 

We  reached  Washington  in  good  time,  and  I  soon 
realized  the  great  advantage  of  rest.  Six  hours  of 
office  work  came  so  near  nothing  to  do,  that  had  I  been 
in  usual  health  I  should  probably  have  raised  some 
disturbance  from  sheer  idleness ;  but  I  learned  by  and 
by  that  the  close  attention  demanded  to  avoid  mistakes, 
could  not  well  have  been  continued  longer. 

Several  ladies  continued  distributing  hospital  stores 
for  me  all  that  fall  and  winter,  and  next  spring  I  still 
had  some  to  send  out.  When  able  I  went  myself,  and 
in  Carver  found  a  man  who  had  been  wounded  in  a 
cavalry  charge,  said  to  have  been  as  desperate  as  that 
of  "  the  Light  Brigade;  "  and  who  refused  to  take  any 
thing  from  me,  because  he  had  "  seen  enough  of  these 
people  who  go  around  hospitals  pretending  to  take 
care  of  wounded  soldiers." 

I  convinced  him  it  was  his  duty  to  take  the  jelly  in 
order  to  prevent  my  stealing  it.  Also,  that  it  was  for 
my  interest  to  save  his  life,  that  I  might  not  have  to 
pay  my  share  of  the  cost  of  burying  him  and  getting 
a  man  in  his  place.  Nay,  that  it  was  my  duty  to  get 


HALF  A  CENTURY. 

him  back  into  the  saddle  as  fast  as  possible,  that  my 
government  need  not  pay  him  for  lying  abed.  He 
liked  this  view  of  the  case,  and  not  only  took  what  I 
offered  him,  but  next  time  I  went  asked  for  Jefferson- 
tie  shoes  to  support  his  foot,  and  when  I  brought  them 
said  he  would  be  ready  for  duty  in  a  week. 

In  Judiciary  Square,  a  surgeon  asked  me  to  give  a 
jar  of  currant  jelly  to  a  man  in  Ward  Six,  who  was 
fatally  wounded. 

I  found  the  man,  those  in  the  neighboring  cots  and 
the  nurse,  all  very  sad,  talked  to  him  a  few  moments, 
and  said: 

"You  think  you  are  going  to  die! " 

"That  is  what  they  all  say  I  must  do!" 

"  "Well,  I  say  you  are  not  going  to  do  anything  of 
the  kind!" 

"Oh!  I  guess  I  am!" 

"  Not  unless  you  have  made  up  your  mind  to  it,  and 
are  quite  determined.  Those  hip  wounds  kill  a  great 
many  men,  because  folks  do  not  know  how  to  manage 
them,  and  because  the  men  are  easy  to  kill;  but  it 
takes  a  good  deal  to  kill  a  young  man  with  a  good  con 
science,  who  has  never  drank  liquor  or  used  tobacco; 
who  has  muscle  like  yours,  a  red  beard  and  blue  gray 
eyes." 

I  summoned  both  his  day  and  night  nurse,  told  all 
three  together  of  the  surgical  trap-door  that  old  Mother 
Nature  wanted  made  and  kept  open,  clear  up  to  the 
center  of  that  wound.  The  surgeon  would  always 
make  one  if  the  patient  wanted  it.  I  told  them  about 
the  warmth  and  nourishment  and  care  needed,  and  left 
him  and  them  full  of  hope  and  resolution. 


LIFE  AND  DEATH.  299 

Next  time  I  was  in  Judiciary,  a  young  man  on 
crutches  accosted  me,  saying  : 

"  Were  not  you  in  Ward  Six,  about  six  weeks  ago?" 

"Yes!" 

"  Do  you  remember  a  man  there,  that  every  one 
said  was  going  to  die,  and  you  said  he  would  n't?" 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  I  'm  the  fellow." 

I  looked  at  him  inquiringly,  and  said: 

"Well,  did  you  die?" 

He  burst  into  uproarious  laughter,  and  replied: 

"No,  but  I  'm  blamed  if  I  wouldn't,  if  you  had  n't 
come  along." 

I  passed  on,  left  him  leaning  against  the  wall  fin 
ishing  his  laugh,  and  saw  or  heard  of  him  no  more. 
It  was  but  a  few  days  after  he  passed  out  of  my 
knowledge  that  news  came  of  the  death  of  Gen.  Low- 
rie.  It  was  the  old  story,  "  the  great  man  down,"  for 
he  died  in  poverty  and  neglect,  but  with  his  better 
self  in  the  ascendent.  His  body  lies  in  an  iinmarked 
grave,  in  that  land  where  once  his  word  was  law. 

Pondering  on  his  death,  I  thought  of  that  country 
boy  going  to  his  father's  house,  with  the  life  restored 
by  one  he  knew  not,  even  by  name,  and  the  going 
home  of  that  mature  man,  who  thought  he  knew  my 
inmost  soul,  and  with  whose  political  death  I  was 
charged.  Only  the  wisdom  of  eternity  can  determine 
which,  if  either,  I  served  or  injured.  To  the  one,  life 
may  lack  blessing,  to  the  other,  death  be  all  gain. 


300  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

CHAPTER   LXYI. 

MEET  MISS  DIX  AND  GO  TO  FKEDEKICKSBTJKG. 

I  SAT  down  stairs,  for  the  first  time  after  a  two  weeks' 
illness,  when  Georgie  Willets,  of  Jersey  City,  came  in, 
saying: 

"  Here  is  a  pass  for  you  and  one  for  me,  to  go  to 
Fredericksburg!  A  boat  leaves  in  two  hours,  and  we 
must  hurry ! " 

For  several  days  the  air  had  shuddered  with  ac 
counts  of  the  terrible  suffering  of  our  men,  wounded 
in  the  battle  of  the  "Wilderness ;  and  a  pall  of  uncer 
tainty  and  gloom  hung  over  the  city. 

I  made  a  tuck  in  a  queen's-cloth  dress,  donned  it,  se 
lected  a  light  satchel,  put  into  one  side  a  bottle  of 
whiskey  and  one  of  sherry,  half  a  pound  of  green  tea, 
two  rolls  of  bandage  and  as  much  old  table-linen  as 
packed  them  close;  put  some  clothing  for  myself  in 
the  other  side,  and  a  cake  of  black  castile  soap,  for 
cleansing  wounds;  took  a  pair  of  good  scissors,  with 
one  sharp  point,  and  a  small  rubber  syringe,  as  surgi 
cal  instruments;  put  these  in  my  pocket,  with 
strings  attaching  them  to  my  belt;  got  on  my  Sha 
ker  bonnet,  and  with  a  large  blanket  shawl  and  tin 
cu'p,  was  on  board  with  Georgie,  an  hour  before  the 
boat  left. 

It  had  brought  a  load  of  wounded  from  Belle  Plain; 
some  were  still  on  board,  and  suffering  intensely  from 
thirst,  and  hard,  dry  dressings.  It  was  a  hot  day,  and 
we  both  went  to  work  giving  drinks  of  water,  wetting 
wounds,  and  bathing  hot  heads  and  hands. 


Go  TO  FKEDEKICKSBUKG-.  301 

'As  Georgie  passed  the  foot  of  the  cabin  stairs.  Miss 
Dix  was  coming  down,  and  called  to  her,  saying: 

"  What  are  you  doing  here? " 

She  made  no  reply,  but  passed  on  to  her  work,  when 
the  irate  lady  turned  to  where  I  was  drawing  water 
from  a  cooler,  and  asked,  in  a  tone  of  high  displeas 
ure  : 

"Who  is  that  young  girl?" 

"  Miss  Georgie  Willets,  of  Jersey  City,"  I  replied. 

"  And  where  is  she  going?" 

"To  Fredericksburg." 

"By  whose  authority?"  she  demanded. 

"  By  authority  of  the  Surgeon-General,"  I  replied. 

"  The  Surgeon-General  has  no  authority  to  send  a 
young  girl  down  there  alone." 

"  She  is  not  going  alone." 

"  Who  is  going  with  her?"  she  asked,  tartly. 

"  I  am." 

"Who  are  you?" 

I  told  her,  and  she  ceased  to  be  insulting  long 
enough  to  expostulate  on  the  great  impropriety  of  the 
proceeding,  as  well  as  to  explain  the  total  lack  of  any 
need  of  help  in  Fredericksburg.  She  had  just  re 
turned  from  that  city,  where  she  had  arranged  every 
thing  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner.  Hospitals  had 
been  established,  with  surgeons  and  nurses.  There 
was  therefore  not  the  slightest  occasion  for  our  going 
further;  but  she  was  about  to  organize  relief  for  the 
men  while  waiting  at  the  Washington  wharf  to  be 
taken  to  hospitals.  Here  I  might  be  useful,  and  here 
she  would  be  glad  to  have  me  work;  but  as  for  that 
handsome  young  girl,  she  wondered  at  me  for  bring 
ing  her  into  such  a  place. 


302  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Georgie  was  not  merely  handsome.  She  was  grand, 
queenly;  and  I  told  Miss  Dix  that  I  differed  with  her 
about  the  kind  of  women  who  should  go  into  such  places. 
We  wanted  young,  vigorous  women — women  whose 
self-respect  and  social  position  would  command  the 
respect  of  those  to  whom  they  ministered.  She  grew 
angry  again,  and  said: 

"  She  shall  not  go  to*Fredericksburg;  I  will  have 
her  arrested!" 

I  was  kneeling  beside  a  man  whose  wounds  I  was 
bathing;  for  I  had  not  suspended  my  work  to  talk 
with  her,  who  stood,  straight  as  a  telegraph  pole,  hold 
ing  a  bottle  which  she  ever  and  anon  applied  to  her 
nose;  but  when  she  reached  this  climax,  I  raised  my 
head,  looked  into  her  face,  and  said: 

"  I  shall  not  be  sorry  Miss  Dix,  if  you  do;  for  then 
I  shall  apply  to  my  friends,  Mrs.  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Stanton,  and  have  your  authority  tested." 

I  went  on  with  my  work;  she  growled  something 
and  left  the  boat,  but  did  not  disturb  us  further. 

Going  down  the  river  I  grew  worse,  and  thought  I 
might  be  obliged  to  return  with  the  boat,  and  stay  at 
home;  but  consulted  a  surgeon  on  his  way  to  the  front, 
who  talked  with  another,  and  said: 

"  There  is  no  immediate  danger  in  your  case.  It  is 
only  secondary  hemorrhage;  and  with  care  you  may 
go  on,  but  must  not  attempt  to  do  anything.  You  can, 
however,  be  of  incalculable  service,  simply  by  being  in 
Fredericksburg ;  can  sit  down  and  see  that  people  do 
their  duty.  What  our  wounded  need  most,  is  peo 
ple  who  have  an  interest  in  their  welfare — friends. 
You  can  do  a  great  deal  toward  supplying  this  want, 


Go  TO  FKEDERICKSBURG.  303 

this  great  need;  but  be  careful  and  do  not  try  to  work." 

After  some  time  this  surgeon  brought,  and  intro 
duced  Col.  Chamberlain,  of  Maine,  evidently  an  in 
valid,  and  a  man  of  the  purely  intellectual  type.  Two 
other  surgeons  were  with  him,  and  all  three  endeav 
ored  to  persuade  him  to  return  to  Washington,  as 
his  lack  of  health  made  it  very  dangerous,  if  not  quite 
useless,  for  him  to  go  to  the  front.  I  thought  the  sur 
geons  right;  and  told  him  I  feared  he  was  throwing 
away  his  life,  in  an  effort  to  do  the  impossible. 

He  explained  that  he  was  in  command  of  a  brigade 
of  eight  regiments;  that  in  them  were  hundreds  of  his 
neighbors  and  pupils,  for  he  had  resigned  a  professor 
ship  in  a  college  to  enlist.  Said  he  knew  his  own  con 
stitution  better  than  any  one  else  could  know  it;  knew 
he  would  be  stronger  when  he  reached  his  post,  and 
that  the  danger  would  be  in  any  attempt  to  keep  out 
of  danger — the  danger  which  his  men  must  face. 
Turning  to  me  he  said: 

"  If  you  had  eight  children  down  there,  you  would 
go  to  them,  if  you  could!" 

We  arranged  that  if  he  should  be  wounded  so  as  to 
suffer  a  thigh  amputation,  he  should  let  me  know,  that 
I  might  nurse  him  through. 

At  Belle  Plaine,  Georgie  went  to  look  for  trans 
portation,  and  I  to  the  Sanitary  Commission  boat, 
where  I  was  introduced  to  Mrs.  Gen.  Barlow  and  Miss 
Hancock,  both  busy  furnishing  hot  coffee  to  those  be 
ing  embarked  for  Washington.  Mrs.  Barlow  was  a 
tall,  superbly  formed  woman,  very  handsome,  and  full 
of  health  and  spirits.  She  looked  down  on  me  com 
passionately,  and  said: 


304:  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

"Oh,  you  poor  little  thing!  What  ever  brought 
you  here?  We  have  sick  folks  enough  now!  Do  sit 
down  until  I  get  you  a  cup  of  tea! " 

While  I  drank  the  tea,  she  stood  looking  at  me,  and 
said  meditatively: 

"  Oh,  you  queer  little  thing,"  and  hurried  off  to  her 
work. 

Soon  a  Colonel  with  a  badly  wounded  head  came 
on  board,  leaned  against  a  post  and  groaned.  I  found 
a  basin  of  water  and  a  towel,  and  began  bathing  his 
head,  wetting  those  torturing  dressings  and  making 
him  comparatively  comfortable,  when  she  stopped  in 
her  hurried  walk,  looked  on  an  instant,  and  exclaimed : 

"  Oh,  you  nice  little  thing!  Now  I  see  what  you 
are  good  for!  I  could  not  do  that;  but  you  will  take 
care  of  their  wounds  and  I  will  feed  them !  That  will 
be  grand!" 

Soon  Georgie  came  to  say  there  was  no  transporta 
tion  to  be  had,  but  she  had  found  a  Campbell  surgeon 
in  charge  of  a  hospital  tent,  and  he  wanted  me;  said 
he  was  worn  out,  and  had  plenty  of  work  for  both  of 
us.  The  doctor  had  a  large  tent,  filled  with  wounded 
lying  on  loose  hay.  His  patients  seemed  to  want  for 
nothing,  but  he  must  needs  give  so  much  time  to  re 
ceiving  and  forwarding  those  pouring  in  from  the  front, 
that  he  needed  us.  He  had  a  little  tent  put  up  for 
us,  and  that  was  the  only  night  I  have  ever  slept  in  a 
tent. 

Next  morning  while  we  were  attending  to  a  Colonel, 
and  Lieutenant  Colonel,  both  of  the  same  regiment, 
and  both  badly  wounded  and  just  brought  in,  one  said 
to  the  other:  "My  God,  if  our  men  in  Fredericksburg 


Go  TO  FKEDEKICKSBURG.  305 

could  have  a  little  of  this  care!"  "Why?"  said  I, 
"  I  have  heard  that  everything  possible  was  being 
done  for  them  2" 

"Everything  possible!"  exclaimed  one,  and  both 
together  began  the  most  terrible  recital  of  the  neglect 
and  abuse  of  the  wounded  in  that  horrible  place — men 
dying  of  thirst,  and  women  spitting  in  their  faces,  kick 
ing  and  spurning  them."  We  set  down  our  basins; 
Georgie  started  in  one  direction  and  I  in  another,  to 
find  transportation. 

The  surgeon  in  command  of  the  station  stood  super 
intending  the  loading  of  oats  while  he  looked  at  my 
pass,  and  said  he  could  not  possibly  send  us,  adding: 
"  Fredericksburg  is  no  place  for  a  lady.  It  is  impossi 
ble  to  describe  the  condition  of  things  there." 

"  But,  Doctor,  I  am  not  a  lady !  I  am  a  hospital  nurse. 
The  place  where  men  are  suffering  must  be  the  place 
for  me.  I  do  not  look  strong,  but  you  cannot  think 
how  much  I  can  do. 

"  But,  Madam,  you  forget  that  our  army  is  cut  off 
from  its  base  of  supplies,  and  must  be  furnished  with 
subsistence,  and  that  we  have  not  half  the  transpor 
tations  we  need." 

"  Doctor,  you  are  sending  bags  of  oats  in  ambu 
lances!  I  do  not  weigh  much  more  than  one,  and 
will  be  worth  six  when  you  get  me  there." 

He  promised  to  send  me  that  afternoon,  but  I 
doubted  him ;  went  to  the  Christian  Commission  tent, 
found  a  man  who  knew  me  by  reputation,  and  told 
him  they  had  better  send  me  to  Fredericksburg,  or  put 
me  under  arrest,  for  I  was  in  a  mood  to  be  dangerous. 
He  feigned  fright,  caught  up  his  hat,  and  said: 
^ 


306  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

"  We  '11  get  yon  out  of  this  in  the  shortest  possible 
space  of  time." 

An  hour  after  I  was  on  the  way,  and  Georgie  a  few 
moments  in  advance.  I  had  seen  bad  roads  in  north 
ern  and  western  Pennsylvania,  but  this  was  my  first 
ride  over  no  road.  "We  met  a  steady  stream  of  such 
wounded  as  were  able  to  walk,  but  comparatively  few 
were  brought  in  ambulances. 

It  was  raining  when  we  readied  Fredericksburg,  at 
four  o'clock  on  Sabbath,  and  I  went  to  the  surgeon  in 
command,  reported,  and  asked  him  to  send  me  to  the 
worst  place — the  place  where  there  was  most  need. 

"  Then  I  had  better  send  you  to  the  Old  Theater, 
for  I  can  get  no  one  to  stay  there." 

He  gave  me  my  appointment,  and  I  went  to  a  Corps 
Surgeon,  who  signed  it,  and  advised  me  not  to  go  to 
the  theater — I  could  do  nothing,  as  the  place  was  in 
such  dreadful  condition,  while  I  could  be  useful  in 
many  other  places. 


CHATTER  LXVII. 

THE  OLD  THEATER. 

THIS  building  was  on  Princess  Ann  street.  The 
basement  floor  was  level  with  the  sidewalk,  but  the 
ground  sloped  upward  at  the  back;  so  that  the  yard 
\vas  higher  than  the  floor.  Across  the  front  was  a  vesti 
bule,  with  two  flights  of  stairs  leading  up  to  the  audi 
torium  ;  behind  the  vestibule  a  large,  low  room,  with 
two  rows  of  pillars  supporting  the  upper  floor;  and 
behind  this  three  small  rooms,  and  a  square  hall  with 


THE  OLD  TIIEATEE.  307 

a  side  entrance.  The  fence  was  down  between  the  the 
ater  and  Catholic  church,  next  door.  I  stopped  in  the 
church  to  see  Georgie,  who  was  already  at  work  there, 
came  and  left  by  the  back  door,  and  entered  the  thea 
ter  by  the  side  hall. 

The  mud  was  running  in  from  the  yard.  Oppo 
site  the  door,  in  a  small  room,  was  a  pile  of  knap 
sacks  and  blankets ;  and  on  them  lay  two  men  smok 
ing.  To  get  into  the  large  room,  I  must  step  out  of 
the  hall  mud  over  one  man,  and  be  careful  not  to  step 
on  another.  I  think  it  was  six  rows  of  men  that 
lay  close  on  the  floor,  with  just  room  to  pass  between 
the  feet  of  each  row;  they  so  close  in  the  rows  that 
in  most  places  I  must  slide  one  foot  before  the  other 
to  get  to  their  heads. 

The  floor  was  very  muddy  and  strewn  with  debris, 
principally  of  crackers.  There  was  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two  men  in  the  building,  all  desperately  wound 
ed.  They  had  been  there  a  week.  There  were  two 
leather  water-buckets,  two  tin  basins,  and  about 
every  third  man  had  saved  his  tin-cup  or  canteen; 
but  no  other  vessel  of  any  sort,  size  or  description  on 
the  premises — no  sink  or  cess-pool  or  drain.  The 
nurses  were  not  to  be  found;  the  men  were  growing 
reckless  and  despairing,  but  seemed  to  catch  hope  as  I 
began  to  thread  my  way  among  them  and  talk.  No 
other  memory  of  life  is  more  sacred  than  that  of  the 
candor  with  which  they  took  me  into  their  confidence, 
as  if  I  had  been  of  their  own  sex,  yet  ever  sought  to 
avoid  wounding  the  delicacy  they  ascribed  to  mine. 

I  found  some  of  the  nurses — cowards  who  had  run 
away  from  battle,  and  now  ran  from  duty — galvanized 


308  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

them  into  activity,  invented  substitutes  for  things 
that  were  wanting — making  good  use  of  an  old  knap 
sack  and  pocket-knife — and  had  tears  of  gratitude 
for  pay. 

One  man  lay  near  the  front  door,  in  a  scant  flannel 
shirt  and  cotton  drawers,  his  left  thigh  cut  off  in  the 
middle  and  the  stump  supported  on  the  only  pillow 
in  the' house.  It  was  six  by  ten  inches,  stuffed  with 
straw.  His  head  was  supported  by  two  bits  of  board 
and  a  pair  of  very  muddy  boots.  He  called  me, 
clutched  my  dress,  and  plead: 

"  Mother,  can't  you  get  me  a  blanket,  Pin  so  cold; 
I  could  live  if  I  could  get  any  care!" 

I  went  to  the  room  where  the  men  lay  smoking  on 
the  blankets;  but  one  of  them  wearing  a  surgeon's 
shoulder-straps,  and  speaking  in  a  German  accent, 
claimed  them  as  his  private  property,  and  positively 
refused  to  yield  one.  The  other  man  was  his  orderly, 
and  words  were  useless — they  kept  their  blankets. 

Going  into  a  room  behind  that,  I  found  a  man 
slightly  wounded  sitting  on  the  floor,  supporting  an 
other  who  had  been  shot  across  the  face,  and  was 
totally  blind.  He  called,  and  when  I  came  and  talked 
with  them,  said: 

Cl  Won 't  you  stay  with  us? " 

"  Stay  with  you? "  I  replied,  «  Well,  I  rather  think 
I  will,  indeed;  I  came  to  stay,  and  am  one  of  the 
folks  it  is  hard  to  drive  away! " 

"  Oh !  thank  God ;  everybody  leaves  us ;  they  come 
and  promise,  and  then  go  off,  but  I  know  you  will 
stay;  you  will  do  something  for  us!" 

It  was  so  pitiful,  that  for  an  instant  my  courage 
failed,  and  I  said: 


THE  OLD  THEATEE.  309 

"  I  will  certainly  stay  with  you;  but  fear  it  is  little 
I  can  do  for  you." 

"  Oh,  you  can  speak  to  us;  you  do  not  know  how 
good  your  voice  sounds.  I  have  not  seen  a  woman 
in  three  months;  what  is  your  name?" 

"  My  name  is  mother." 

"  Mother;  oh  my  God!  I  have  not  seen  my  mother 
for  two  years.  Let  me  feel  your  hand  ? " 

I  took  between  both  of  mine  his  hand,  covered  with 
mud  and  blood  and  smoke  of  battle,  and  told  him  I 
was  not  only  going  to  stay  with  them,  but  was  going 
to  send  him  back  to  his  regiment,  with  a  lot  more 
who  were  lying  around  here  doing  nothing,  when 
there  was  so  much  fighting  to  be  done;  I  had  come  on 
purpose  to  make  them  well,  and  they  might  make  up 
their  minds  to  it.  My  own  courage  had  revived,  and 
I  must  revive  theirs ;  I  could  surely  keep  them  alive 
until  help  should  come.  By  softening  the  torturing 
bandages  on  his  face,  I  made  him  more  comfortable; 
and  in  an  adjoining  room  found  another  man  with  a 
thigh  stump,  who  had  been  served  by  field-surgeons, 
as  the  thieves  served  the  man  going  from  Jerusalem 
to  Jericho:  i.  e.,  "  stripped  him,  left  him  naked  and  half 
dead."  Those  men  surely  did  not  go  into  battle  with 
out  clothes;  and  why  they  should  have  been  sent  out 
of  the  surgeon's  hands  without  enough  of  even  under 
clothing  to  cover  them,  is  the  question  I  have  never 
yet  had  answered.  Common  decency  led  to  his  being 
placed  in  the  back  room  alone,  but  I  shall  never  blush 
for  going  to  him  and  doing  the  little  I  could  for  his 
comfort. 

After  I  returned  to  the  large  room,  I  took  notice 


310  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

about  clothing,  and  found  that  most  of  the  men  had 
on  their  ordinary  uniform;  some  had  two  blankets, 
more  had  one;  but  full  one-third  were  without  any. 
There  was  no  shadow  or  pretense  of  a  bed  or  pillow, 
not  even  a  handful  of  straw  or  hay!  There  was  [no 
broom,  no  hoe,  or  shovel,  or  spade  to  sweep  or  scrape 
the  floor;  and  the  horrors  were  falling  upon  me  when 
the  man  of  the  blankets  came,  and  said: 

"  Mattam,  iv  you  are  goin'  to  do  any  ding  for  tese 
men,  you  petter  git  dem  someding  to  eat." 

"Something  to  eat?" 

"Yaas!  mine  Cot,  someding  to  eat!  De  govern 
ment  petter  leave  dern  to  tie  on  de  pattle  field,  nur 
do  pring  tern  here  to  starve." 

I  looked  at  him  in  much  surprise,  and  said: 

""Who  are  you?" 

"  Yy,  I  am  de  surgeon.  Tey  send  me  here;  put 
mine  Cot,  I  cannot  do  netting.  Tere  ish  notting  to 
do  mitl" 

I  called  out:     "  Men,  what  have  you  had  to  eat?" 

"  Hard  tack,  and  something  they  call  coffee,"  was 
the  response. 

"  Have  you  had  no  meat? " 

"  Meat?    We  have  forgotten  what  it  tastes  like! " 

In  one  corner,  near  the  front  door,  was  a  little 
counter  and  desk,  with  a  stationary  bench  in  front. 
To  this  desk  the  surgeon  gave  me  a  key.  I  found 
writing  material,  and  sent  a  note  of  four  lines  to  the 
Corps  Surgeon.  Half  an  hour  after,  an  irate  little 
man  stormed  in  and  stamped  around  among  those 
prostrate  men,  flourishing  a  scrap  of  paper  and  calling 
for  the  writer.  His  air  was  that  of  the  champion  who 


THE  OLD  THEATER.  311 

wanted  to  see  "  the  man  who  struck  Billy  Patterson," 
and  his  fierceness  quite  alarmed  me,  lest  he  should 
step  on  some  of  the  men;  So  I  hurried  to  him,  and 
was'no  little  surprised  to  find  that  the  offending  mis 
sive  was  my  note.  I  told  him  I  had  written  it,  and 
could  have  had  no  thought  of  "reporting"  him,  since 
I  knew  nothing  about  him. 

After  considerable  talk  I  learned  that  he  had  charge 
of  the  meat,  and  that  none  had  been  issued  to  that 
place,  because  no  "  requisition  "  had  been  sent.  I  had 
never  written  a  requisition,  but  found  blanks  in  that 
desk,  filled  one,  signed  it  and  gave  it  to  the  meat  man, 
who  engaged  that  the  beef  should  be  there  next  morn 
ing. 

It  grew  dark,  and  we  had  two  tallow  candles  lighted ! 
May  none  of  my  readers  ever  see  such  darkness  made 
visible — such  rows  of  haggard  faces  looking  at  them 
from  out  such  cavernous  gloom!  I  talked  hopefully, 
worked  and  walked,  while  mentally  exclaiming: 

"  Oh,  God !     What  shall  I  do  ? " 

About  nine  o'clock  Dr.  Porter,  Division  Surgeon, 
came  with  Georgie,  to  take  us  to  our  quarters.  These 
were  but  half  a  block  away,  on  the  same  side  of  the 
street,  but  on  the  opposite  side,  and  corner  of  the  next 
cross-street,  in  a  nice  two-story  brick  house,  with  a 
small  yard  in  front.  An  old  lady  answered  his  sum 
mons,  but  refused  to  admit  us:  when  he  insisted  and 
I  interposed,  saying  the  lady  was  afraid  of  soldiers, 
but  would  admit  us.  "We  would  bid  him  good  night, 
and  soon  our  lodgings  would  be  all  right. 

She  was  relieved,  took  us  in,  cooked  our  rations  for 
herself  and  us,  gave  us  a  comfortable  bed,  and  was 


312  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

uniformly  kind  all  the  time  we  staid,  and  seemed 
sorry  to  have  us  leave. 

I  spoke  the  first  night  to  Dr.  Porter  about  blankets 
and  straw,  or  hay  for  beds,  but  was  assured  that  none 
were  to  be  had.  Supplies  could  not  reach  them  since 
being  cut  off  from  their  base,  and  the  Provost  Marshal, 
Gen.  Patrick,  would  not  permit  anything  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  houses,  though  many  of  them  were  unoccu 
pied,  and  well  supplied  with  bedding  and  other  neces 
saries.  I  thought  we  ought  to  get  two  blankets  for 
those  two  naked  men,  if  the  Government  should  pay 
their  weight  in  gold  for  them ;  and  suggested  that  the 
surgeons  take  what  was  necessary  for  the  comfort  of 
the  men,  and  give  vouchers  to  the  owners.  I  knew 
such  claims  would  be  honored;  would  see  that  they 
should  be;  but  he  said  the  matter  had  been  settled  by 
the  Provost,  and  nothing  more  could  be  done. 

It  seems  to  me  now  that  I  must  have  been  be 
numbed,  or  I  could  have  done  something  to  provide 
covering  for  those  men.  I  did  think  of  giving  one  of 
them  my  shawl,  but  I  must  have  died  without  it.  I 
remembered  my  Douglas  Hospital  letter,  and  knew 
that  Gen.  Patrick  could  order  me  out  of  Fredericks- 
burg,  and  leave  these  men  to  rot  in  the  old  theater. 
Already  their  wounds  were  infested  by  worms,  which 
gnawed  and  tormented  them ;  some  of  those  wounds 
were  turning  black,  many  were  green ;  the  vitality  of 
the  men  was  sinking  for  want  of  food  and  warmth. 
I  could  not  forsake  them  to  look  after  reform ;  would 
not  fail  to  do  what  I  could,  in  an  effort  to  do  what  I 
could  not  or  might  not  accomplish. 

In  the  morning  I  saw  that  the  men  had  something 


THE  OLD  THEATER.  313 

they  called  coffee,  and  found  canned  milk  for  it,  which 
was  nourishment;  but  a  new  difficulty  arose.  The 
men  who  brought  the  coffee  would  distribute  it  to 
those  who  had  cups  or  canteens,  and  the  others 
would  get  none.  I  had  some  trouble  to  induce  them 
to  leave  their  cans,  until,  with  the  two  tin  cups  I  could 
borrow,  I  could  give  about  one- third  the  whole  num 
ber  the  coffee  they  could  not  otherwise  have. 

Our  cooking  was  done  in  the  churchyard,  with  that 
of  the  church  patients.  A  shed  had  been  put  up;  but 
our  cooking  was  an  "  uncovenanted  mercy,"  and  when 
our  beef  came  there  was  a  question  as  to  how  it  could 
be  cooked — how  that  additional  work  could  be  done. 

I  wrote  to  the  Provost-Marshal,  stating  our  trouble, 
and  the  extremity  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-two 
men.  Asked  that  we  might  take  a  cook-stove  out  of 
a  vacant  house  near;  promised  to  take  good  care  of  it 
and  have  it  returned;  and  he  wrote,  for  answer: 

"  I  am  not  a  thief !  If  you  want  a  stove  send  to  the 
Sanitary  Commission ! " 

He  must  have  known  that  the  Commission  was  as 
pressed  as  the  Government  to  conform  its  arrange 
ments  to  the  movements  of  an  army  cut  off  from  its 
base  of  supplies,  and  that  it  had  no  stoves,  so  the  plain 
English  of  his  answer  was: 

"  Let  your  wounded  die  of  hunger,  in  welcome !  I 
am  here  to  guard  the  property  of  the  citizens  of  Fred- 
ericksburg!" 

I  had  already  written  to  the  Commission  for  blan 
kets  and  a  broom,  but  there  were  none  to  be  had.  It 
soon  however  sent  a  man,  who  cut  branches  off  trees, 
and  with  them  swept  the  floors. 


314:  HALF  A  CENTURY. 


CHAPTER  LXVIIT. 

AM   PLACED   IN   AUTHORITY. 

ON  Monday  morning  I  sent  for  Dr.  Porter,  and  sta 
ted  the  trouble  about  nurses  shirking.  He  had  them 
all  summoned  in  the  front  end  of  the  large  room,  and 
in  presence  of  the  patients,  said  to  them : 

"  You  see  this  lady?  Well, you  are  to  report  to  her 
for  duty;  and  if  she  has  any  fault  to  find  with  you 
she  will  report  you  to  the  Provost-Marshal ! " 

1  have  never  seen  a  set  of  men  look  more  thoroughly 
subdued.  There  were  eleven  of  them,  and  they  all 
gave  me  the  military  salute.  The  doctor  went  off,  and 
I  set  them  to  work.  One  middle-aged  Irishman  had 
had  some  experience  as  a  nurse;  could  dress  wounds — 
slowly,  but  very  well — was  faithful  and  kind;  and  him 
I  made  head-nurse  up  stairs,  where  there  were  fifty- 
four  patients,  and  gave  him  three  assistants,  for  whom 
he  was  to  be  responsible.  After  Patrick's  note,  I  cal 
culated  my  resources,  and  got  ready  for  a  close  siege. 
As  I  sat  on  that  little  stationary  bench,  making  an  in 
ventory,  I  heard  shrieks,  groans  and  curses,  at  the  far 
end  of  the  room ;  ran  to  the  place,  and  got  there  in 
time  to  see  the  surgeon  of  the  blankets  tearing  the  dry 
dressings  off  a  thigh  stump!  Coming  up  behind  him, 
I  caught  him  by  both  ears,  and  had  my  hands  full,  or 
dered  him  to  stop,  and  said: 

"You  had  better  go  back  to  your  room  and  smoke." 

Again  I  sent  for  Surgeon  Porter,  and  in  less  than 
two  hours  that  little  wretch,  with  his  orderly,  packed 


PLACED  IN  AUTHORITY.  315 

up  his  blankets  and  I  saw  him  or  them  no  more.  I 
had  never  dressed  a  thigh  stump,  but  must  dress  a 
good  many  now;  I  rolled  that  one  in  a  wet  cloth,  and 
covered  it  carefully,  to  let  the  man  get  time  to  rest, 
while  I  got  rid  of  his  horrid  tormentor.  When  there 
was  so  much  to  be  done,  I  would  do  the  most  needful 
thing  first,  and  this  was  ridding  the  wounds  of  worms 
and  gangrene,  supporting  the  strength  of  the  men  by 
proper  food,  and  keeping  the  air  as  pure  as  possible. 
I  got  our  beef  into  the  way  of  being  boiled,  and  would 
have  some  good  substantial  broth  made  around  it.  I 
went  on  a  foraging  expedition — found  a  coal-scuttle 
which  would  do  for  a  slop-pail,  and  confiscated  it,  got 
two  bits  of  board,  by  which  it  could  be  converted  into 
a  stool,  and  so  bring  the  great  rest  of  a  change  of  posi 
tion  to  such  men  as  could  sit  up;  had  a  little  drain 
made  with  a  bit  of  board  for  a  shovel,  and  so  kept  the 
mud  from  running  in  at  the  side  door;  melted  the  tops 
off  some  tin  cans,  and  made  them  into  drinking  cups; 
had  two  of  my  men  confiscate  a  large  tub  from  a  brew 
ery,  set  it  in  the  vestibule  to  wash  rags  for  outside  covers 
to  wounds,  to  keep  off  chill,  and  had  others  bring 
bricks  and  rubbish  mortar  from  a  ruin  across  the 
street,  to  make  substitutes  for  pillows. 

I  dressed  wounds!  dressed  wounds,  and  made  thor 
ough  work  of  it.  In  the  church  was  a  dispensary, 
where  I  could  get  any  washes  or  medicines  I  wished, 
and  I  do  not  think  I  left  a  worm.  Some  of  them 
were  over  half  an  inch  long,  with  black  heads  and 
many  feet,  but  most  were  maggots.  They  were  often 
deeply  seated,  but  my  syringe  would  drive  them  out, 
and  twice  a  day  I  followed  them  up.  The  black  and 


316  HALF  A  CENTUET. 

green  places  grew  smaller  and  better  colored  with 
every  dressing.  The  men  grew  stronger  with  plenty 
of  beef  and  broth  and  canned  milk.  I  put  citric  acid 
and  sugar  in  their  apple  sauce  as  a  substitute  for  lem 
ons.  I  forget  how  many  thigh  stumps  I  had,  but  I 
think  as  many  as  twelve.  One  of  them  was  very 
short  and  in  a  very  bad  condition.  One  morning 
when  I  was  kneeling  and  dressing  it,  the  man  burst 
into  tears,  and  said: 

"  You  do  not  seem  to  mind  this,  but  I  know  you 
would  not  do  it  for  anything  but  the  love  of  God,  and 
none  but  He  can  ever  reward  you;  but  if  I  live  to 
see  my  wife  and  children,  it  will  be  through  what  you 
have  done  for  me,  and  I  will  teach  them  to  bless  your 
name! " 

He  quite  took  me  by  surprise,  for  I  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  any  other  life  than  that  I  was  then  living; 
and  dressing  the  most  frightful  wounds  was  as  natural 
as  eating.  I  felt  no  disgust,  no  shrinking,  and  mere 
conventional  delicacy  is  withdrawn  when  the  Angel  of 
Death  breathes  upon  it. 

The  man  we  stepped  over  at  the  back  door,  proved 
to  be  a  student  from  the  Pennsylvania  Agricultural 
College,  shot  through  the  alimentary  canal,  near  the 
base  of  the  spine.  For  him  there  was  no  hope,  but 
I  did  what  I  could  to  make  him  less  uncomfortable, 
and  once  he  said: 

"  This  is  strange  work  for  a  lady." 

"  You  forget,"  I  said,  "  that  I  am  surgeon  in  charge, 
that  you  and  Iitwere  made  of  the  same  kind  of  clay, 
in  much  the  same  fashion,  and  will  soon  turn  into 
just  the  same  kind  of  dust." 


YlSITEES.  317 

How  my  heart  was  wrung  for  him,  with  his  refined 
face,  dying  for  a  country  which  sent  its  bayonets  to 
stand  between  him  and  the  armful  of  straw,  with 
which  I  might  have  raised  him  above  that  muddy 
floor.  He  had  no  knapsack  to  serve  as  a  pillow,  no 
blanket,  no  cup,  and  his  position  across  the  door 
way  was  cold  and  uncomfortable;  but  even  after  I 
had  made  a  better  place  for  him,  he  objected  to  leav 
ing  two  companions,  who  lay  next  to  him,  and  I 
could  not  find  room  for  all  three  together,  even  on 
that  dirty  floor.  He  himself  always  dressed  the 
wound  where  the  bullet  entered,  and  was  most  grate 
ful  for  the  means  of  doing  so.  I  cared  for  that  one 
through  which  Death's  messenger  made  its  exit,  and 
although  he  knew  its  condition,  he  did  not  know  the 
certainty  of  a  fatal  result,  and  resented  any  intima 
tion  that  he  should  not  recover. 


CHAPTER    LXIX. 

VISITEES. 

THE  second  morning  of  my  work  in  the  old  theater, 
Miss  Hancock  came  to  see  how  I  got  along.  She  was 
thoroughly  practical,  and  a  most  efficient  laborer  in  the 
hospital  field,  and  soon  thought  of  something  to  better 
the  condition  of  the  man  minus  clothes,  who  lay  quite 
near  my  desk  and  the  front  door,  and  caught  my 
dress  whenever  he  could,  to  plead  for  a  blanket.  She 
could  get  no  blanket;  but  was  stationed  in  the  Meth 
odist  Church,  where  there  was  a  surgeon  in  charge, 
and  everything  running  in  regular  order.  In  a  tent 


318  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

adjoining,  this  man  could  be  laid  out  of  the  draught  and 
chill  of  that  basement,  and  she  would  do  her  best  to 
get  some  clothing  for  him.  She  sent  two  men  with 
a  stretcher,  who  took  him  to  the  church  tent,  where  I 
fear  he  was  not  much  better  provided  for  than  in  the 
place  he  left. 

After  some  days,  Mrs.  Gen.  Barlow  came  to  see  the 
men  who  all  belonged  to  her  husband's  division,  and 
were  rejoiced  to  see  her;  and  to  express  a  general  fear 
for  my  life.  I  was  to  die  of  overwork  and  want 
of  sleep,  "and  then,"  she  exclaimed,  "what  will  be 
come  of  these  men?  No  one  but  you  ever  could  or 
would  have  done  anything  for  them.  Do  you  know 
there  were  three  surgeons  detailed  for  duty  here,  be 
fore  you  came,  and  none  of  them  would  stay?  Now 
if  you  die,  they  will.  Do  take  some  rest!" 

I  listened  and  looked  at  her  flushed  face,  while  she 
talked,  and  said: 

"  Mrs.  Barlow,  I  am  not  going  to  die — am  in  no 
danger  whatever,  and  will  hold  out  until  help  comes. 
This  cannot  last;  Government  will  come  to  the  rescue, 
and  my  men  will  be  here  when  it  comes.  After  all 
is  over,  I  will  fall  to  pieces  like  an  old  stage  coach 
when  the  king-bolt  drops  out;  will  lie  around  as  lum 
ber  for  a  while,  then  some  one  will  put  me  together 
again,  and  I  will  be  good  as  new.  It  is  you  who  are 
killing  yourself.  You  must  change  your  arrange 
ments  or  you  will  take  typhoid  fever,  and  after  such  a 
strain,  recovery  will  be  hopeless.  I  take  nobody's 
disease — am  too  repellant;  but  you  will  catch  contagion 
very  readily.  Keep  away  from  fever  cases  and  rest; 
you  are  in  imminent  peril." 


VISITERS.  319 

She  hurried  away,  laughing  at  the  idea  of  one  in  her 
perfect  health  being  injured  by  hard  work;  but  my 
heart  was  full  of  evil  omen.  I  had  talked  with  Mrs, 
Senator  Pomeroy,  on  her  way  from  her  last  visit  to  the 
Contraband  camp,  where  she  gave  her  life  in  labor  for 
the. friendless  and  poor,  and  she  had  looked  very  much 
as  Mrs.  Barlow  did  that  day. 

Soon  after  this,  I  was  made  glad  by  the  sight  of  my 
friend,  Mrs.  Judge  Ingersol.  People  say  her  daugh 
ter,  Mrs.  Gov.  Chamberlain,  is  a  beauty,  but  she  is 
not  old  enough  ever  to  have  been  as  beautiful  as  her 
mother,  that  day,  in  her  plain  widow's  dress,  walking 
among  the  wounded,  with  her  calm  face  so  full  of 
strength  and  gentleness. 

She  and  Mrs.  Barlow  had  hatched  a  rebellion.  In 
the  city  was  a  barn  containing  straw,  for  want  of  which 
our  men  were  dying.  It  was  guarded  by  one  of  Gen. 
Barlow's  men.  Mrs.  Barlow  took  two  others,  went 
with  them,  placed  herself  in  front  of  the  guard,  told 
them  to  break  open  the  barn  and  carry  out  the  straw, 
and  him  to  fire,  if  he  thought  it  is  duty;  but  he 
must  reach  them  through  her.  The  man's  orders 
were  to  guard  the  barn;  with  the  straw  out  of  it  he 
had  nothing  to  do.  The  men  moved  side  and  side, 
going  in  and  out,  and  she  kept  in  range  to  cover  them 
until  the  last  armful  had  been  removed.  It  was  taken 
away  and  was  to  be  distributed;  but  there  was  still  eo 
little  compared  to  the  need,  that  there  must  be  con 
sultation  about  the  manner  of  using  it.  Mrs.  Inger 
sol  thought  it  should  be  made  into  small  pillows,  and 
volunteered  to  undertake  that  work;  as  the  Commission 
could  furnish  muslin,  I  thought  this  best.  She  found 


320  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

a  loft,  and  engaged  several  Fredericksburg  women  to 
work  for  pay.  They  worked  one  day,  but  did  not  re 
turn  on  the  second.  There  were  a  good  many  Union 
women  there  by  this  time,  who  should  have  helped, 
but  few  could  confine  themselves  to  obscure  work  in 
a  loft,  when  there  was  so  much  excitement  on  the 
streets.  There  was  no  authority  to  hold  any  one  to 
steady  employment;  and  so  about  two-thirds  the  help 
ers  who  reached  Fredericksburg,  spent  a  large  part  of 
their  time  in  an  aimless  wandering  and  wondering, 
and  finding  so  much  to  be  done,  could  do  nothing. 

So,  most  of  the  time  Mrs.  Ingersol  was  in  her  loft 
alone,  except  the  orderlies  who  stuifed  her  slips,  sewed 
up  the  ends  and  carried  them  off  to  the  places  she 
designated ;  but  she  had  nimble  fingers,  and  sleight-of- 
hand,  and  turned  out  a  surprising  number  of  small 
straw  pillows. 

As  rny  allowance  came,  the  question  was  what  to  do 
with  them.  They  were  too  precious  for  use.  What 
should  I  do  with  those  scraps  of  white  on  that  field  of 
grime?  Our  gaunt  horror  became  grotesque,  in  view 
of  such  unwonted  luxuries.  "What!  A  whole  dozen 
or  two  little  straw  pillows  among  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men!  Who  should  elect  the  aristocrats  to  be 
craclled  in  such  luxury  amid  that  world  of  want? 

When  my  aristocrat  was  elected,  how  should  his 
luxury  be  applied?  Would  I  put  it  under  his  head 
or  mangled  limb  ?  I  think  I  never  realized  our  destitu 
tion  until  those  little  pillows  came  to  remind  me  that 
sometimes  wounded  men  had  beds!  Oh,  God!  would 
relief  never  come?  Like  the  Scotch  girl  in  the  besieged 
fortress  of  India,  I  felt  like  laying  my  ear  to  the  ground, 


YISITEES.  321 

to  barken  for  the  sound  of  the  bagpipes,  the  tramp  of 
the  Campbells  coming.  It  did  seem  that,  without 
surgical  aid  or  comforts  of  any  kind,  my  rnen  must 
soon  be  all  past  hope;  but  a  surgeon  came,  and  I  hailed 
him  with  joy,  thinking  him  the  advance  guard  of  the 
army  of  Telief.  Half  an  hour  after  his  appearance  I 
missed  him,  and  saw  him  no  more;  and  this  was  the 
fourth  which  left  those  men,  after  being  regularly 
detailed  to  duty  among  them — left  them  to  die  or  live, 
as  they  could. 

Soon  after  this  we  had  an  official  visit  from  one  of 
those  laundry  critics,  called  "  Medical  Inspectors."  As 
there  were  no  sheets  or  counterpanes  to  look  after,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  a  heap  of  dry  rubbish  in  the 
vestibule,  which  gave  the  place  an  untidy  appearance, 
as  seen  from  the  street.  To  remove  this  eyesore  he 
had  one  of  my  nurses  hunt  up  a  wheel-barrow,  and  two 
shovels — shovels  were  accessible  by  this  time — and 
ordered  him  and  another  to  wheel  that  rubbish  out 
into  the  street.  The  wheel-barrow  coming  in  the  door 
called  my  attention,  when  I  learned  that  we  were  going 
to  be  made  respectable.  I  sent  the  wheel-barrow  home, 
gave  the  shovels  to  two  men  to  dig  a  sink  hole  back  in 
the  yard,  and  forbade  any  disturbance  of  the  dry, 
harmless  rubbish  in  the  vestibule.  I  would  not  have 
my  men  choked  with  dust  by  its  removal,  and  set 
about  getting  up  false  appearances.  'No  medical  in 
spector  should  white  that  sepulchre  until  he  cleared 
the  dead  men's  bones  out  of  it.  He  had  not  looked  at 
a  wound;  did  not  know  if  the  men  had  had  any  din 
ner.  A  man  did  not  need  a  medical  diploma  to  clear 
up  after  stage  carpenters.  If  the  Government  wanted 
21 


322  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

that  kind  of  work  done,  it  had  better  send  a  man  and 
cart  with  its  donkey. 


CHAPTEK    LXX. 

WOUNDED   OFFICERS. 

IN  Washington,  I  had  done  nothing  for  any  wounded 
officer,  except  a  captain  who  was  brought  to  our  ward 
when  all  the  others  were  taken  away,  and  in  Freder- 
icksburg  I  began  on  that  principle.  I  found  twenty  in 
the  Old  Theater,  and  had  them  removed  to  private 
houses,  to  make  room  for  the  men,  and  that  they 
might  be  better  cared  for.  Officers  could  be  quartered 
in  private  houses,  and  have  beds,  most  of  those  taken 
out  of  the  theater  were  put  into  houses  between  it 
and  our  quarters,  so  that  I  could  see  them  on  my  way 
to  and  from  meals.  Among  them  was  the  blind  man, 
who  still  craved  to  hear  me  speak  and  feel  my  hand, 
and  I  kept  his  face  in  a  wet  compress  until  a  surgeon 
was  dressing  it  and  found  the  inflammation  so  gone  that 
he  drew  the  lid  of  one  back,  and  the  man  cried  out  in 
delight:  "  I  can  see!  I  can  see!  now  let  me  see  mother." 
I  stood  in  his  range  of  vision,  until  the  surgeon  closed 
the  lids,  when  he  said :  "  Now,  mother,  I  shall  always 
remember  just  how  you  look." 

I  found  in  my  visit  to  those  men  that  some  order 
lies  needed  some  one  to  keep  them  in  order,  and  that  a 
helpless  man  is  not  always  sure  his  servant  will  serve 
him.  Often  the  orderlies  themselves  were  powerless, 
and  those  men  would  have  suffered  if  I  had  not  cared 
for  them.  More  than  once  some  of  them  said:  "I 


WOUNDED  OFFICERS.  323 

wish,  mother,  we  were  back  with  you  in  the  Old  Thea 
ter?" 

There  was  a  captain  whose  stump  I  must  fix  every 
night  before  he  could  sleep,  and  when  his  wife  came  I 
tried  to  teach  her,  but  she  was  so  much  afraid  of  hurting 
him  she  could  do  nothing.  I  learned  in  time  that  offi 
cers  quartered  in  private  houses,  even  with  the  greater 
comforts  they  had,  often  suffered  more  than  the  men 
in  all  their  privations.  Mrs.  Barlow  came  for  me  to 
see  one  given  up  to  die,  and  I  found  him  in  a  large 
handsome  room,  on  the  first  floor  of  an  elegant  resi 
dence,  absolutely  hopeless,  but  for  years  have  not  been 
able  to  recall  the  trouble  in  his  case. 

It  must  have  been  easy  to  set  right,  for  he  began  at 
once  to  recover,  and  I  felt  that  people  had  been  very 
stupid,  and  that  there  was  an  unreasonable  amount 
of  wonder  and  gratitude  over  whatever  it  was  I  did. 
It  was  often  so  easy  to  save  a  life,  where  there  were 
the  means  of  living,  that  a  little  courage  or  common 
sense  seemed  like  a  miraculous  gift  to  people  whose 
mental  powers  had  been  turned  in  other  directions. 

But  I  found  another  side  to  looking  after  officers  in 
private  quarters.  One  evening  after  dark,  Georgie  call 
ed  to  tell  me  of  a  dreadful  case  of  suffering  which  a  sur 
geon  wished  her  to  see.  He  was  there  to  accompany  her, 
but  she  declined  going  without  me,  and  I  went  along, 
walking  close  behind  them,  as  the  pavement  was  nar 
row.  He  did  not  seem  to  notice  that  I  was  there,  was 
troubled  with  the  weight  of  his  diploma  and  shoulder- 
straps,  and  talked  very  patronizingly  to  the  lady  at 
his  side,  until  she  turned,  and  said  to  me: 

"Do  you  hear  that?" 


324  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  I  replied,  "  and  feel  very  grateful  to  the 
young  man  for  his  permission  to  do  the  work  he  is 
paid  for  doing,  but  if  he  had  reserved  his  patronage 
until  some  one  had  asked  for  it,  it  would  have  had 
more  weight." 

"Your  friend  is  sarcastic,"  was  his  reply  to  her; 
and  I  said  no  more  until  we  reached  the  case  of  great 
distress,  which  was  on  the  second  floor  of  a  vacant 
house,  and  proved  to  be  a  colonel  in  uniform,  seated 
in  an  easy  chair,  smoking,  while  his  orderly  sat  in 
another  chair,  on  the  other  side  of  the  room. 

Georgie  stood  looking  from  one  man  to  the  other  in 
speechless  surprise;  but  I  spoke  to  the  man  in  the 
chair,  saying  : 

"  How  is  it,  sir,  that  you,  an  officer,  in  need  of 
nothing,  have  trespassed  upon  our  time  and  strength, 
when  you  know  that  men  are  dying  by  hundreds  for 
want  of  care?" 

He  began  to  apologize  and  explain,  but  I  said  to 
Georgie : 

"  Come,  Miss  "Willets,  we  are  not  needed  here." 

As  we  passed  from  the  rqom,  the  surgeon  took  his 
cap  to  accompany  us,  when  I  stopped,  made  a  gesture, 
and  said: 

"Young  man!  stay  where  you  are!  Your  friend 
must  be  too  ill  to  do  without  you.  I  will  see  the 
young  lady  to  her  quarters.  The  vidette  is  on  the 
corner,  and  we  do  not  need  you!" 

"We  came  away  filled  with  wonder,  but  we  did  not 
for  some  time  realize  the  danger.  We  came  to  know 
that  Miss  Dix's  caution  was  not  altogether  unwise; 
that  women  had  been  led  into  traps  of  this  kind,  when 


"Now  I  LAY  ME  DOWN  TO  SLEEP."         325 

it  would  have  been  well  for  them  had  they  died  there, 
and  when  duty  to  themselves  and  the  public  required 
them  to  get  one  or  more  doctors  ready  for  dissection. 
After  that  lesson,  however,  I  did  not  fear  to  leave 
Georgie,  who  remained  with  the  army,  doing  grand 
work,  until  Richmond  fell,  but  laying  the  foundation  of 
that  consumption,  of  which  she  died. 

Of  all  the  lives  which  the  Rebellion  cost  us,  none 
was  more  pure,  more  noble,  than  that  of  this  beautiful, 
refined,  strong,  gentle  girl. 


CHAPTER  LXXI. 


THE  Sanitary  Commission  soon  got  a  supply  of  cloth 
ing,  and  sent  two  men  to  wash  and  dress  my  patients. 
These,  with  the  one  sweeping  floors  with  branches, 
were  an  incalculable  help  and  comfort;  but  these  two 
did  their  work  and  passed  on  to  other  places.  One  of 
the  men  they  had  dressed  grew  weak,  and  I  was  at  a 
loss  to  account  for  his  symptoms,  until  by  close  ques 
tioning,  I  drew  from  him  the  answer, 

"  It  is  my  other  wound ! " 

These  words  sounded  like  a  death -knell,  but  I  in 
sisted  on  seeing  the  other  wound,  and  found  four  bullet 
holes  under  his  new  clothes.  From  the  one  wound, 
for  which  I  had  been  caring,  he  might  easily  recover; 
but  with  four  more  so  distributed  that  he  must  lie  on 
one,  and  no  surgeon  to  make  trap  doors,  no  bed — there 
was  no  hope.  He  was  so  bright,  so  good,  so  intelli 
gent,  so  courageous,  it  was  hard  to  give  him  up.  Ah, 


326  HALF  A  CENTUBY. 

if  I  had  him  in  Campbell,  with  Dr.  Kelly  to  use  the 
knife !  How  my  heart  clung  to  him ! 

He  lay  near  the  center  of  the  room,  with  his  head 
close  to  a  column;  and  one  night  as  I  knelt  giving 
him  drink,  and  arranging  his  knapsack  and  brick  pil 
low,  making  the  most  of  his  two  blankets,  and  think 
ing  of  his  mother  at  home,  I  was  suddenly  impressed 
by  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  his  face; — his  broad, 
white  brow  shaded  by  bushy,  chestnut  hair,  half 
curling ;  the  delicate  oval  of  his  cheeks ;  the  large,  ex 
pressive  grey  eyes;  the  straight  nose  and  firm  chin 
and  lips! — he  could  not  have  been  more  than  twenty- 
two,  almost  six  feet  high,  with  a  frame  full  of  vigor. 
How  many  such  men  were  there  in  this  land?  How 
many  could  we  afford  to  sacrifice  in  order  to  preserve 
a  country  for  the  use  of  cowards  and  traitors,  and  other 
inferior  types  of  the  race? 

The  feeble  light  of  my  candle  threw  this  picture  in 
to  strong  relief  against  the  surrounding  gloom,  and  it 
was  harder  than  ever  to  give  him  up,  but  this  must 
be  done;  and  I  wa'nted  to  extract  from  that  bitter  cup 
one  drop  of  sweetness  for  his  mother;  so  I  said  to 
him: 

"  JSTow,  George,  do  you  think  you  can  sleep? "  He 
said  he  could,  and  I  added: 

"Will  you  pray  before  you  sleep?"  He  said  he 
would. 

" Do  you  always  pray  before  going  to  sleep?"  He 
nodded,  and  I  contined: 

"  Let  us  pray  together,  to-night,  just  the  little  prayer 
your  mother  taught  you  first." 

He  clasped  his  hands,  and  together  we  repeated 


"Now  I  LAY  ME  DOWN  TO  SLEEP."        327 

"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  to  the  end;  when  I 
said: 

"  Do  you  mean  that,  George?  Do  you  mean  to  ask 
God  to  keep  your  soul,  for  Christ's  sake,  while  you  are 
here;  and,  for  His  sake,  to  take  it  to  Himself  when 
you  go  hence,  whenever  that  may  be?" 

The  tears  were  running  over  his  cheeks,  and  he  said, 
solemnly : 

« I  do." 

"  Then  it  is  all  well  with  you,  an4  you  can  rest  in 
Him  who  giveth  his  beloved  sleep.^_ 

There  was  no  time  for  long  prayers,  and  I  must  go 
to  another  sufferer. 

A  kind,  strong  man,  from  the  Michigan  Aid  Soci 
ety,  came  and  worked  two  days  among  my  men,  and 
said: 

"  If  I  only  had  them  in  a  tent,  on  the  ground;  but 
this  floor  is  dreadful! " 

Up  stairs  were  some  wounds  I  must  dress,  while  a 
corpse  lay  close  beside  one  of  the  men,  so  that  I  must 
kneel  touching  it,  while  I  worked.  It  lay  twelve  hours 
before  I  could  get  it  taken  to  its  shallow,  coffinless 
grave;  and  while  I  knelt  there,  the  man  whose  wound 
I  was  dressing,  said: 

"Never  mind;  we'll  make  vou  up  a  good  purse  for 
this!" 

He  had  no  sooner  spoken  than  a  murmur  of  con 
temptuous  disapproval  came  from  the  other  men,  and 
one  said: 

"  A  purse  for  her!  She 's  got  more  money  than  all 
of  us,  I  bet ! " 

Another  called  out: 


328  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  !Nb,  we  won't !  Won't  do  anything  of  the  kind  ! 
We're  your  boys;  ain't  we,  mother?  You're  not 
working  for  money! " 

"Why,"  persisted  the  generous  man,  "we  made  up 
a  purse  of  eighty  dollars  for  a  woman  t'  other  time  I 
was  hurt,  and  she  hadn't  done  half  as  much  for  us! " 

"  Eighty  dollars ! "  called  out  the  man  who  thought 
me  rich;  "eighty  dollars  for  her!  why  I  tell  you  she 
could  give  every  one  of  us  eighty  dollars,  arid  would 
not  miss  it!" 

Another  said: 

"  She  is  n't  one  of  the  sort  that  are  'round  after 
purses!" 

Why  any  of  them  should  have  thought  me  rich  I 
cannot  imagine  except  for  the  respect  with  whicfroffi- 
cers  treated  me.  To  veil  the  iron  hand  I  held  over  my 
nurses,  I  made  a  jest  of  my  authority,  pinned  a  bit  of 
bandage  on  my  shoulder,  and  played  commander-in- 
chief.  Officers  and  guards  would  salute  when  we 
passed,  as  an  innocent  joke,  but  the  men  came  to  re 
gard  me  as  a  person  of  rank. 

Citizens  of  Fredericksburg,  who  at  first  insulted  me 
on  the  street,  as  they  did  other  Yankee  nurses,  heard 
that  I  was  a  person  of  great  influence,  and  began  to 
solicit  my  good  offices  on  behalf  of  friends  arrested 
by  order  of  Secretary  Stan  ton,  and  held  as  hostages, 
for  our  sixty  wounded  who  were  made  prisoners  while 
trying  to  pass  through  the  city,  before  we  took  posses 
sion. 

So  I  was  decked  in  plumes  of  fictitious  greatness,  and 
might  have  played  princess  in  disguise  if  I  had  had 
time;  but  I  had  only  two  deaths  in  the  old  theater — 


MOKE  VICTIMS  AND  A  CHANGE  OF  BASE.      329 

this  man  up  stairs,  and  the  man  without  clothes,  who 
lay  alone  in  that  back  room,  and  after  the  amputa- 
tation  of  his  thigh,  had  no  covering  until  government 
gave  him  one  of  Virginia  clay. 


CHAPTEE  LXXIL 

MORE   VICTIMS   AND   A   CHANGE   OF   BASE. 

ONE  day  at  noon,  the  air  thrilled  with  martial  music 
and  the  earth  shook  under  the  tramp  of  men  as  seven 
thousand  splendid  troops  marched  up  Princess  Ann 
street  on  their  way  to  reinforce  our  army,  whose  rear 
was  about  eight  miles  from  us.  They  were  in  superb 
order,  and  the  forts  around  Washington  had  been 
stripped  of  their  garrisons,  and  most  of  their  guns,  to 
furnish  them;  but  the  generalship  which  cut  our 
army  off  from  its  base  of  supplies,  and  blundered 
into  the  battle  of  the  "Wilderness,  like  a  blind  horse 
into  a  briar  patch,  without  shelling  or  burning  the  dry 
chapperal  in  which  our  dead  and  wounded  were  con 
sumed  together,  after  the  battle,  had  made  no  ar 
rangements  for  the  safe  arrival  of  its  reinforcements. 
So  they  were  ambushed  soon  after  passing  through 
Fredericksburg ;  and  that  night,  before  ten  o'clock,  all 
the  places  I  had  succeeded  in  making  vacant  were 
filled  with  the  wounded  from  this  reinforcement.  Plow 
many  of  them  wrere  brought  to  Fredericksburg  I  do 
not  know;  but  it  must  have  been  a  good  many,  when 
some  were  sent  to  my  den  of  horrors. 

One  evening,  after  dark,  1  went  to  the  dispensary, 
and  found  a  surgeon  just  in  from  the  front  for  sup- 


330  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

plies.  While  they  were  being  put  up,  he  told  us  of 
the  horrible  carnage  at  Spottsylvania  that  day,  when, 
the  troops  had  been  hurled,  again  and  again,  against 
impregnable  fortifications,  under  a  rain  of  rifle  balls, 
which  cut  down  a  solid  white  oak  tree,  eighteen  inches 
in  diameter. 

The  battle  had  ceased  for  the  night,  and  it  was 
not  known  whether  it  would  be  renewed  in  the 
morning. 

"But  if  it  is,"  said  the  speaker,  "it  will  be  the 
bloodiest  day  of  the  war,  and  we  must  be  whipped, 
routed.  The  Rebels  are  behind  breastworks  which 
cannot  be  carried.  Any  man  but  Grant  would  have 
known  that  this  morning,  but  he  is  to  fight  it  out 
on  this  line,  and  it  is  generally  thought  he  will  try 
it  again  in  the  morning.  If  he  does,  it  will  be  a 
worse  rout  than  Bull  Run." 

No  one  was  present  but  the  surgeon  in  charge  of 
the  church,  the  dispensary  clerk,  and  myself;  so  he 
was  no  alarmist,  for  when  he  had  done  speaking,  he 
took  his  package,  mounted  his  horse  and  left.  People 
had  said,  through  the  day,  that  the  roar  of  guns  was 
heard  in  the  higher  portions  of  the  city,  but  no  news 
of  the  battle  seemed  to  have  reached  it  during  all  the 
next  day. 

I  spent  it  in  preparing  for  the  worst,  warned  Geor- 
gie,  and  tightened  the  reins  on  my  nurses.  I  had  had 
no  reason  to  complain  of  any,  and  felt  that  I  should 
hold  them  to  duty,  even  through  a  rout.  It  also 
seemed  well  to  know  where  our  wounded  were  located, 
in  that  part  of  the  city,  so  that  if  an  attempt  were 
made  to  remove  them,  in  a  hurry,  there  might  not 
be  any  overlooked. 


MOKE  VICTIMS  AND  A  CHANGE  OF  BASE.      331 

At  half-past  eleven  that  night  I  had  heard  nothing 
from  the  front,  and  went  to  sleep,  with  heavy  forebod 
ings.  At  two  o'clock  I  was  aroused  by  the  sounds  of 
a  moving  multitude,  rose  and  looked  out  to  see,  under 
the  starlight,  a  black  stream  pouring  down  the  side 
street,  on  the  corner  of  which  our  quarters  were  situ 
ated,  and  turning  down  Princess  Ann,  toward  the 
river  landing.  To  me,  it  was  the  nation  going  to  her 
doom,  passing  through  the  little  period  of  starlight, 
on  into  the  darkness  and  the  unknown. 

In  Louisville,  I  had  learned  to  believe  that  the  Eter 
nal  veri  ties  demanded  the  destruction  of  our  Govern 
ment.  True,  the  South  had  beaten  the  North  in  her 
bloody  struggle  for  the  privilege  of  holding  her  slaves 
while  she  flogged  them;  but  I  could  see,  in  this,  no 
reason  why  that  North  should  be  chosen  as  Freedom's 
standard-bearer!  Our  ignoble  Emancipation  Pro 
clamation  had  furnished  no  rock  of  moral  principle 
on  which  to  plant  her  feet  while  she  struggled  in  that 
bloody  surf.  God  was  blotting  out  our  name  from 
among  the  nations,  that  he  might  plant  here  a  gov 
ernment  worthy  of  such  a  country. 

1  calculated  there  was  a  rear  guard  that  would 
hold  the  enemy  back  until  morning,  and  did  not  wake 
Georgie,  who  needed  sleep;  but  I  must  be  with  my 
men,  who  would  be  alarmed  by  the  unusual  sounds; 
must  see  that  those  nurses  did  not  rim  away. 

To  get  to  my  post,  I  must  cross  that  stream,  and  as 
I  stood  waiting  on  the  bank,  could  see  that  it  was  not 
composed  of  men  in  martial  array.  It  met  exactly  all 
my  previous  conceptions  of  a  disorderly  flight.  There 
were  men  in  and  out  of  uniform,  men  rolled  in 


332  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

blankets,  men  on  horseback  and  men  on  foot,  cannon, 
caisons,  baggage  wagons,  beef  cattle,  ambulances  and 
nondescripts,  all  mixed  and  mingled,  filling  the  street 
from  wall  to  wall;  no  one  speaking  a  word,  and  all 
intent  on  getting  forward  as  fast  as  possible.  So 
thickly  were  they  packed  that  I  waited  in  vain,  as 
much  as  twenty  minutes,  for  some  opening  through 
which  I  might  work  my  way  to  the  other  side,  and  at 
last  called  the  vidette,  who  came  and  helped  me  over. 

[Reaching  the  theater,  I  found  many  of  the  men 
awake  and  listening;  went  among  them  and  whispered, 
as  I  did  something  for  each,  that  there  was  some 
movement  on  the  street  I  did  not  understand,  but 
should  probably  know  about  in  the  morning.  During 
the  suspense  of  those  dark  hours,  and  all  the  next  day 
I  was  constantly  reminded  of  the  Bible  metaphor  of  "a 
nail  fastened  in  a  sure  place."  The  absolute  confidence 
which  those  men  reposed  in  me,  the  comfort  and 
strength  I  could  give  them,  were  so  out  of  proportion 
to  my  strength  that  it  was  a  study.  I  was  a  very 
small  nail,  but  so  securely  fastened  in  the  source  of 
all  strength,  that  they  could  hold  by  me  and  hope, 
even  when  there  seemed  nothing  to  hope  for.  As  for 
me,  all  the  armies  of  the  world,  and  the  world  itself 
might  melt  or  blow  away,  but  I  should  be  safe  with 
God,  and  know  that  for  every  creature  He  was  work 
ing  out  some  noble  destiny.  All  the  pain,  and  sorrow, 
and  defeat,  were  rough  places — briars  in  an  upward 
path  to  something  we  should  all  rejoice  to  see. 

All  day  that  dark  stream  surged  around  that  cor 
ner,  and  I  took  heart  that  the  flight  was  not  disorderly, 
since  I  heard  of  none  coming  by  any  other  street.  All 


MOKE  VICTIMS  AND  A  CHANGE  OF  BASE.      333 

day  the  work  went  on  as  usual  at  the  old  theater,  and 
I  made  short  excursions  to  other  places.  Up  that 
street  in  one  end  of  an  engine  house,  up  a  narrow, 
winding  stair,  I  found  a  room  full  of  men  deserted, 
and  in  most  pitiable  condition.  They  were  all  sup 
posed  to  be  fever  cases,  but  one  young  man  had  an 
ankle  wound,  in  which  inflammation  had  appeared.  I 
hurried  to  the  surgeons,  stationed  in  the  far  end  of  the 
building,  and  reported  the  case.  They  sent  immedi 
ately  for  the  man,  and  I  knew  in  two  hours  that  the 
amputation  had  been  successful,  and  barely  in  time. 

As  I  went  on  that  errand,  I  met  two  Christian 
Commission  men  walking  leisurely,  admiring  the 
light  of  the  rising  sun  on  the  old  buildings,  and  told 
them  of  the  urgent  demand  for  help,  and  chicken 
broth  or  beef  broth  and  water  up  in  that  room.  They 
were  polite,  and  promised  to  go  as  soon  as  possible  to  the 
relief  of  that  distress ;  but  when  I  returned  and  up  to 
the  last  knowledge  I  had  of  the  case,  they  had  not 
been  there. 

I  secured  a  can  of  cooked  turkey,  the  only  one  I 
ever  saw,  and  a  pitcher  of  hot  water,  and  with  these 
made  a  substitute  for  chicken  broth;  gave  them  all 
drinks  of  water,  bathed  their  faces,  found  one  of  their 
absent  nurses,  made  him  promise  to  stay,  and  went 
back  to  the  main  building  to  have  some  one  see  that 
he  kept  his  word. 

Here  was  a  large  floor  almost  covered  with  wounded, 
and  among  them  a  woman  stumbled  about  weeping, 
wailing,  boo-hooing  and  wringing  her  hands;  I  caught 
her  wrist,  and  said : 

"  What  is  the  matter?" 


334  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

"Oh!  oh!  oh!  Boo-hoo!  boo-hoo!  the  poor  fellow 
is  goin'  to  die  an5  wants  me  to  write  to  his  mother." 

"  Well,  write  to  her  and  keep  quiet!  you  need  not 
kill  all  the  rest  of  them  because  he  is  going  to  die." 

"Oh!  boo-hoo!  some  people  has  no  feelin's;  but  I 
have  got  feelin's! " 

I  led  her  to  the  surgeon  in  charge,  who  sent  her  and 
her  "  feelin's  "  to  her  quarters,  and  told  her  not  to  come 
back. 

She  was  the  only  6ne  of  the  Dix'  nurses  I  saw  in 
Fredricksburg,  and  her  large,  flat,  flabby  face  was  al 
most  hideous  with  its  lack  of  eye-brows  and  lashes; 
but  this  hideousness  must  have  been  her  recommen 
dation,  as  she  could  not  have  been  more  than  twenty 
years  old. 

From  the  engine  house  I  went  to  the  Methodist 
church.  Miss  Harcock  had  been  detailed  to  the  Gen 
eral  Hospital,  just  being  established,  and  I  found  a 
house  full  of  men  in  a  sad  condition.  Nine  o'clock, 
on  a  hot  morning,  and  no  wounds  dressed ;  bandages 
dry  and  hard,  men  thirsty  and  feverish,  nurses  out 
watching  that  stream  pouring  through  the  city,  and 
patients  helpless  and  despondent. 

I  got  a  basin  of  water  and  a  clean  rag,  never  cared 
for  sponges,  and  went  from  one  to  another,  dripping 
water  in  behind  those  bandages  to  ease  the  torment 
of  lint  splints,  brought  drinks  and  talked  to  call  their 
attention  from  the  indefinite  dread  which  filled  the  air, 
and  got  up  considerable  interest  in — I  do  not  remem 
ber  what — but  something  which  set  them  to  talking. 

Some  wounds  I  dressed,  and  while  engaged  on  one, 
a  man  called  from  the  other  side  of  the  house  to  know 


PRAYERS  ENOUGH  AND  TO  SPARE.  335 

what  the  fun  was  all  about,  when  the  man  whose 
wound  I  was  attending  placed  a  hand  on  each  of  his 
sides,  screamed  with  laughter,  and  replied: 

"  Oh,  Jim !  do  get  her  to  dress  your  wound,  for  I 
swear,  she'd  make  a  dead  man  laugh! " 

I  found  some  of  the  nurses ;  a  surgeon  came  in  who 
would,  I  thought,  attend  to  them,  and  I  went  back  to 
my  post  to  find  every  man  on  duty. 

It  was  near  sundown  when  we  heard  that  this  back 
ward  movement  was  a  "  change  of  base;"  but  to  me  it 
•seemed  more  like  looking  for  a  base,  as  there  had  been 
none  to  change.  The  stream  thickened  toward  night 
fall,  and  continued  until  two  o'clock  next  morning;  so 
that  our  army  was  twenty-four  hours  passing  through 
Fredericksburg ;  and  in  that  time  I  do  not  think  a 
man  strayed  off  on  to  any  other  street!  All  poured 
down  that  side  street,  turned  that  corner,  and  went  on 
down  Princess  Ann. 


CHAPTER    LXXIII. 

PRAYERS  ENOUGH  AND  TO  SPARE. 

THE  next  evening,  after  hearing  of  the  battle  of 
Spottsylvania,  and  while  waiting  to  know  if  it  had 
been  renewed,  I  sat  after  sundown  on  the  door-step 
of  our  quarters,  when  an  orderly  hurried  up  and  in 
quired  for  the  Christian  Commission.  A  lieutenant 
was  dying,  and  wanted  to  see  a  preacher.  I  directed 
the  messenger,  but  doubted  if  he  would  find  a  preach 
er,  as  I  had  seen  nothing  of  any  save  a  Catholic  priest, 
with  whom  I  had  formed  an  alliance;  and  I  went  to 
stay  with  the  dying  man,  who  was  alone. 


336  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

I  found  him  nervous  and  tired,  with  nothing  to  hin 
der  his  return  to  his  regiment  inside  of  a  month.  He 
had  been  converted,  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  seemed  an  humble  Christian  man.  I  told 
him  he  was  getting  well,  had  seen  too  much  company, 
and  nnist  go  to  sleep,  which  he  proceeded  to  do  in 
in  a  very  short  time  after  being  assured  that  that  mo 
tion  was  in  order. 

He  had  slept  perhaps  five  minutes  when  the  mes 
senger  returned,  followed  by  six  preachers!  I  made  a 
sign  that  he  slept  and  should  not  be  disturbed,  but 
they  gathered  around  the  bed  with  so  much  noise  they 
waked  him. 

There  seemed  to  be  a  struggle  for  precedence  among 
his  visitors,  but  one  gained  the  victory.  They  all 
wanted  to  shake  hands  with  the  man  in  the  bed,  but 
his  left  arm  was  off,  and  I  objected;  whereupon  the 
head  spokesman  groaned  a  good  solid  groan,  to  which 
the  others  groaned  a  response.  He  stood  at  the  foot 
foot  of  the  bed,  spread  his  chest,  and  inquired: 

"  Well,  brother,  how  is  your  soul  in  this  solemn 
hour?" 

The  answer  was  such  as  a  good  Christian  might 
make;  and  I  told  the  gentleman  that  the  lieutenant 
had  been  unnecessarily  alarmed;  that  he  had  seen  too 
much  company,  was  weary  and  excited,  needed  rest, 
and  was  rapidly  recovering;  that  he  ought  to  go  to 
sleep;  but  they  all  knelt  around  the  bed,  and  the  first 
prayed  a  good,  long,  loud  prayer;  talked  about  "the 
lake  that  burneth,"  and  other  pleasant  things,  while  I 
held  the  patient's  hand,  and  felt  his  nerves  jerk. 

I  thought  it  would  soon  be  over;  but  no  sooner  had 


MOKE  VICTIMS  AND  A  CHANGE  OF  BASE.      337 

tliis  one  finished  than  the  next  fell  to,  and  gave  us  a 
prayer  with  more  of  those  sobs  made  by  hard  inhala 
tion  than  his  predecessor,  and  a  good  deal  more  brim 
stone.  No  sooner  had  he  relieved  his  mind  than  a 
third  threw  back  his  head  to  begin,  and  I  spoke,  qui 
etly  as  possible;  begged  they  would  let  the  lieutenant 
sleep;  told  them  that  down  in  the  old  theater  was  a 
man  in  a  back  room,  alone  and  dying.  I  had  tried  to 
get  some  one  to  sit  with  him  and  pray  with  him,  and 
hoped  one  or  two  of  them  would  go  to  him  at  once,  as 
every  moment  might  make  it  too  late.  A  man  was 
also  dying  in  the  engine-house,  who  ought  to  have 
some  Christian  friend  with  him  as  he  crossed  the  dark 
valley. 

They  listened  impatiently;  then  the  man  whose 
turn  it  was  to  ventilate  his  eloquence,  pushed  his 
sleeves  up  to  the  elbows,  rubbed  his  hands  as  if  about 
to  lift  some  heavy  weight,  and  exclaimed: 

"Yes,  sister!  Yes.  We'll  attend  to  them ;  but,  first, 
let  us  get  through  with  this  case!" 

Then  he  went  to  work  and  ladled  out  groans,  sobs 
and  blue  blazes.  The  other  three  followed  suit,  and 
when  they  had  all  had  a  good  time  on  their  knees, 
each  one  gave  a  short  oration,  and  when  they  got 
through  I  reminded  them  again  of  the  two  dying  men; 
but  like  the  undutiful  son,  they  said,  "  I  go!  and  went 
not!" 

It  was  two  of  the  six  whom  I  met  next  morning, 
and  asked  to  go  to  the  relief  of  those  poor  patients,  who 
promised  and  went  not. 
22 


333  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER   LXXIV. 

GET  OUT  OF  THE  OLD  THEATER. 

I  DO  not  know  how  long  I  was  in  charge  of  the  old 
theater,  but  remember  talking  to  some  one  of  having 
been  there  ten  days,  and  things  looking  as  -usual.  It 
was  after  the  change  of  base,  that  one  afternoon  I  got 
eight  hopeful  cases  sent  to  the  General  Hospital,  where 
they  would  have  beds.  That  night  about  ten  o'clock 
the  vidette  halted  a  man,  who  explained  that  he  was 
surgeon  in  charge  of  that  institution,  and  when  he 
got  leave  to  go  on,  I  caught  him  by  the  lapel  of  his 
coat,  and  said: 

"  If  you  are  Surgeon — what  is  the  reason  that  the 
eight  men  I  sent  you  this  afternoon  had  had  no  sup 
per  at  nine  o'clock?" 

He  promised  to  attend  to  them  before  he  slept,  and 
on  that  we  parted.  Soon  after  this,  Dr.  Childs,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  a  regular  army  surgeon,  came  to 
the  old  theater,  Imng  their  coats  and  official  dignity, 
if  they  had  any,  on  the  wall — never  said  a  word  about 
the  rubbish  in  the  hall,  but  fastened  up  their  sleeves 
and  went  to  work.  When  they  came,  I  felt  as  if  I 
could  not  take  another  step,  went  to  my  room  and  lay 
down,  thinking  of  Raphael's  useless  angels  leaning 
their  baby  arms  on  a  cloud.  My  angels  wore  beards, 
and  had  their  sleeves  turned  up  like  farm  laborers,  as 
they  lifted  men  out  of  the  depths  of  despair  into  the 
light  and  warmth  of  human  help  and  human  sympathy. 

In  sending  the  men  away,  they  sent  the  amputation 
cases  and  George  to  the  church,  and  sent  for  me  to  go 
to  them  there. 


OUT   OF   THE   OLD   TlIEATER.  339 

Georgie  had  gone  to  the  General  Hospital,  and  there 
was  no  surgeon  in  charge  at  the  church  when  I  went 
to  it.  So,  once  more,  I  set  about  doing  that  which 
was  right  in  my  own  eves.  I  could  have  a  bale  of 
hay,  whipped  out  my  needle  and  thread,  and  for 
several  bad  cases  who  had  two  blankets  converted  one 
into  a  bed  tick,  had  it  filled  with  hay,  and  a  man 
placed  on  it;  but  three  were  sadly  in  need  of  beds,  and 
had  no  blankets;  and  to  them  I  alloted  the  balance  of 
my  precious  bale,  had  it  placed  under  them  loose,  and 
rejoiced  in  their  joy  over  so  great  a  luxury.  My  thea 
ter  men  had  been  laid  in  a  row  close  to  the  wall,  next 
to  the  late  scene  of  their  suffering;  and  about  mid 
night  of  the  first  night  there,  a  nurse  asked  me  to  go 
to  a  man  who  was  dying.  I  found  him  in  front  of  the 
altar.  The  doors  and  front  panels  of  the  pews  had 
been  fastened  Y  shape  to  the  floor,  and  he  lay  with 
one  arm  over  this,  and  his  head  hanging  forward. 
He  had  been  shot  through  the  chest,  was  breathing 
loud  and  in  gasps,  worn  out  for  want  of  support,  and 
to  lay  him  down  was  to  put  out  his  lamp  of  life  in 
stantly.  What  he  needed  was  a  high-backed  chair, 
but  General  Patrick's  sense  of  duty  to  the  citizens  of 
Fredericksburg  left  no  hope  of  such  a  support.  As 
the  only  substitute  in  my  reach,  I  sat  on  the  edge  of 
the  pew  door  and  its  panel,  drew  his  arm  across  my 
knee,  raised  his  head  to  my  shoulder,  and  held  it  there 
by  laying  mine  against  it.  In  this  way  I  could  talk 
in  a  low  monotone  to  him,  and  the  hopes  to  which  the 
soul  turns  when  about  to  leave  the  tenement  of  clay. 
He  gasped  acquiescence  in  these  hopes,  and  his  words 
led  several  men  near  to  draw  their  sleeves  across  their 


340  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

eyes;  but  they  all  knew  he  was  dying,  and  a  little 
sympathy  and  sadness  would  not  injure  them. 

He  reached  toward  the  floor,  and,  the  man  next  hand 
ed  up  a  daguerreotype  case,  which  he  tried  to  open.  I 
took  and  opened  it;  found  the  picture  of  a  young, 
handsome  woman,  and  held  it  and  a  candle,  so  that 
he  could  see  it.  His  tears  fell  on  it,  as  he  looked,  and 
he  gasped, 

"  I  shall  never  be  where  that  has  been." 

I  said: 

"  Is  it  your  wife? "  and  he  replied, 

"No!  but  she  would  have  been." 

I  always  tried  to  avoid  bringing  sadness  to  the  liv 
ing  on  account  of  death;  but  it  must  have  been  hard 
for  men  to  sleep  in  sound  of  his  labored  breathing; 
and  to  soften  it  I  began  singing  "  Shining  Shore." 
He  took  it  up  at  once,  in  a  whisper  tone,  keeping 
time,  as  if  used  to  singing.  Soon  one,  then  another 
and  another  joined,  until  all  over  the  church  these 
prostrate  men  were  singing  that  soft,  sad  melody. 
On  the  altar  burned  a  row  of  candles  before  a  life-sized 
picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child.  The  cocks  crew  the 
turn  of  the  night  outside,  and  when  we  had  sung  the 
hymn  through,  some  of  the  men  began  again,  and  we 
had  sung  it  a  second  time  when  I  heard  George  call 
me.  I  knew  that  he,  too,  was  dying,  and  would  prob 
ably  not  hear  the  next  crowing  of  the  cock.  I  must 
go  to  him!  how  could  I  leave  this  head  unsupported? 
Oh,  death  where  is  thy  sting?  I  think  it  was  with 
me  that  night;  but  I  went  to  George,  and  when  the 
sun  arose  it  looked  upon  two  corpses,  the  remains  of 
two  who  had  gone  from  my  arms  in  one  night,  full 
of  hope  in  the  great  Hereafter. 


TAKE  BOAT  AND  SEE  A  SOCIAL  PARTY.       341 
CHAPTEE    LXXY. 

TAKE  BOAT  AND   SEE  A  SOCIAL  PARTY. 

morning  a  new  surgeon  took  charge,  and  or 
dered  that  hay  to  be  removed.  The  men  clung  to  their 
beds  and  sent  for  me;  I  plead  a  respite,  in  hopes  of 
getting  muslin  to  make  ticks;  but  was  soon  detected 
in  the  act  of  taking  a  bowl  of  broth  to  one  of  my  pa 
tients.  This  the  surgeon  forbade  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  not  regular  meal  time.  I  said  the  man  was 
asleep  at  meal  time.  This  he  would  not  permit,  men 
must  be  fed  at  regular  hours,  or  not  at  all,  and  the 
new  authority  informed  me  that 

"  More  wounded  soldiers  had  been  killed  by  women 
stuffing  them  than  by  anything  else." 

He  had  just  come  from  Massachusetts,  and  this  was 
his  first  day  among  the  wounded.  I  set  my  bowl  down 
before  the  altar,  found  a  surgeon  who  ranked  him,  and 
stated  the  case,  when  the  higher  authority  said: 

"  Give  every  man  an  ox,  every  day,  if  he  will  take 
it  in  beef  tea." 

"  But,  Doctor,  there  is  nothing  in  beef  tea.  I  give 
broth." 

"  Very  good,  give  them  whatever  you  please  and 
whenever  you  please — we  can  trust  you." 

The  new  surgeon  was  promptly  dismissed,  and  when 
next  I  saw  him  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  Massachu 
setts. 

That  night  a  nurse  came  for  me  to  go  to  the  theater 
which  had  been  vacated,  and  once  more  almost  filled 
with  men  who  lay  in  total  darkness,  without  having 


342  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

any  provision  made  for  them.  I  got  them  lights,  nurses 
and  food,  but  could  not  go  back  for  another  siege  in 
that  building — could  not  leave  my  present  post,  but 
the  city  was  being  evacuated.  Both  theater  and 
church  were  emptied,  and  I  went  to  the  tobacco  ware 
house,  where  Mrs.  Ingersol  was  perplexed  about  a 
man  with  a  large  bullet  in  his  brain.  When  I  had 
seen  him  and  assured  her  that  another  ounce  of  lead 
in  a  skull  of  that  kind  was  of  no  consequence,  she  re 
doubled  her  care,  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  living 
yet.  But  there  was  one  man  in  whom  I  felt  a  deep  in 
terest  and  for  whom  I  saw  little  hope.  He  had  a 
chest  wound,  and  had  seemed  to  be  doing  well  when 
there  was  a  hemorrhage,  and  he  lay  white  and  still  al 
most  as  death.  He  must  not  attempt  to  speak,  and  I 
was  a  godsend  to  him,  for  I  knew  what  he  needed 
without  being  told,  and  gave  him  the  best  care  I  could. 
He  was  of  a  Western  State,  and  his  name  Dutton,  and 
when  I  left  him  I  thought  he  must  die  in  being  moved, 
as  he  must  be  soon ;  but  I  must  go  with  a  boat-load 
of  wounded. 

This  boat  was  a  mere  transport,  and  its  precious 
freight  was  laid  on  the  decks  as  close  as  they  could 
well  be  packed,  the  cabin  floor  being  given  up  to 
the  wounded  officers.  There  were  several  surgeons  on 
board  who  may  have  been  attending  to  the  men,  but 
cannot  remember  seeing  any  but  one  engaged  in  any 
work  of  that  kind.  There  were  also  seven  lady  nurses, 
all  I  think  volunteers,  all  handsomely  if  not  elegantly 
dressed.  Of  course  they  could  do  nothing  there,  and  I 
cannot  see  how  they  could  have  done  anything  among 
the  wounded  in  any  place  where  there  were  no  bed- 


TAKE  BOAT  AND  SEE  A  SOCIAL  PARTY.       343 

steads  to  protect  the  men  from  their  hoops.  They 
had  probably  been  engaged  in  preparing  food,  taking 
charge  of,  and  distributing  supplies  and  other  import 
ant  work,  for  personal  attendance  on  the  men  was  but 
a  part  of  the  work  to  be  done. 

Surgeons  could  do  little  without  soiling  their  uni 
forms,  but  my  dress  had  long  been  past  soiling  or  spoil 
ing;  my  old  kid  slippers  without  heels,  could  be  slid, 
with  the  feet  in  them,  quite  under  a  man,  and  as  I 
stepped  sideways  across  them,  they  took  care  that  my 
soft  dress  did  not  catch  on  their  buttons.  When  I  sat 
on  one  heel  to  bathe  a  hot  face,  give  a  drink  or  dress  a 
wound,  some  man  took  hold  of  me  with  his  well  hand 
and  steadied  me,  while  another  held  my  basin.  I  had 
half  of  an  old  knapsack  to  put  under  a  wound,  keep 
the  floor  dry  and  catch  the  worms  when  I  drove  them 
out — and  no  twenty  early  birds  ever  captured  so  many 
in  the  same  length  of  time.  I  became  so  eager  in  the 
pursuit  that  I  kept  it  up  by  candle-light,  until  late 
midnight,  when  I  started  to  go  to  my  stateroom. 

Entering  the  cabin,  I  came  upon  a  social  party,  the 
like  of  which  I  trust  no  one  else  will  ever  see.  On  the 
sofas  sat  those  seven  lady  nurses,  each  with  the  arm  of 
an  officer  around  her  waist,  in  full  view  of  the  wounded 
men  on  the  floor,  some  of  whom  must  go  from  that 
low  bed,  to  one  still  lower — even  down  under  the 
daisies. 

I  stopped,  uttered  some  exclamation,  then  stood  in 
speechless  surprise.  Three  surgeons  released  the  la 
dies  they  were  holding,  came  forward  and  inquired  if 
there  was  anything  wanted.  I  might  have  replied 
that  men  and  women  were  wanted,  but  think  I  said 


344  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

nothing.  When  I  reached  my  room  I  found  in  the 
berth  a  woman  who  raised  up  and  said: 

"  The  stewardess  told  me  this  was  your  room ;  will 
you  let  me  stay  with  you  ? " 

She  was  another  Georgie — young,  calm,  strong,  re 
fined,  was  Miss  Gray  of  Columbia  Hospital,  and  staid 
with  me  through  a  long  hard  trial,  in  which  she 
proved  that  her  price  was  above  rubies. 

Next  morning  I  found  on  one  of  the  guards,  young 
Johnson,  the  son  of  an  old  Wilkinsburg  schoolmate, 
Hoped  I  had  so  checked  the  decay  and  final  destroyers 
which  had  already  taken  hold  of  him,  that  he  might 
live.  Wrote  to  his  people,  and  saw  him  at  noon  trans 
ferred  with  the  other  patients,  the  surgeons  and  stylish 
lady  nurses,  to  a  large  hospital  boat;  when  Miss  Gray 
and  I  returned  in  the  transport  to  Fredricksburg. 


CHAPTEE    LXXYI. 

TAKE   FINAL    LEAVE   OF   FJKEDERICKSBUEG. 

I  CANNOT  remember  if  our  boat  lay  at  the  Fredricks 
burg  wharf  one  day  or  two ;  but  she  might  start  any 
moment,  and  those  who  went  ashore  took  the  risk  of 
being  left,  as  this  was  the  last  boat.  The  evacuation 
was  almost  complete,  and  we  waited  the  result  of  ex 
peditions  to  gather  up  our  wounded  from  field  hospi 
tals  at  the  front.  We  were  liable  to  attack  at  any 
moment,  and  were  protected  by  a  gunboat  which  lay 
close  along  side. , 

There  was  plenty  to  do  on  board,  but  in  doing  it  I 
must  see  the  piles  of  stores  on  the  wharf  brought  there 


TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FKEDERICKSBUKG.     345 

too  late  to  be  of  service  to  our  wounded,  and  now  to 
be  abandoned  to  the  Rebels.  There  were  certainly  one 
hundred  bales  of  hay,  which  would  have  more  than 
replaced  all  that  was  withheld  by  United  States  bayo 
nets  from  our  own  men  in  their  extremity.  I  soon 
learned  after  entering  Fredericksburg,  that  our  Com 
missaries  were  issuing  stores  without  stint  to  the 
citizens;  went  and  saw  them  carry  oif  loads  of  every 
thing  there  was  to  give;  and  when  those  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  Union  soldiers  were  literally  starving 
in  the  old  Theater,  Union  soldiers  were  dealing  out 
delicacies  to  Rebels,  while  others  guarded  the  meanest 
article  of  their  property,  and  kept  it  from  our  men, 
even  when  it  was  necessary  to  save  life. 

I  consulted  several  old  Sanitary  Commission  men, 
who  told  me  it  was  always  so  when  Grant  was  at  the 
front;  that  he  was  then  in  absolute  command;  that 
Patrick,  the  Provost  Marshal,  was  his  friend,  and  would 
be  sustained;  and  that  we  must  be  quiet  or  we  would 
be  ordered  out  of  Fredericksburg. 

Gen.  Grant  may  have  been  loyal  to  the  Union  cause, 
but  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  in  fighting  its 
battles,  he  was  moved  by  the  pure  love  of  fighting, 
and  took  that  side  which  could  furnish  him  the  most 
means  to  gratify  his  passion  for  war.  His  General 
ship  was  certainly  of  a  kind  that  would  soon  have 
proved  fatal  to  our  cause  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
and  only  succeeded  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  because 
the  resources  at  his  command  were  limitless,  as  com 
pared  with  those  of  the  enemy.  It  was  late  in  the 
afternoon  when  our  boat  shoved  off,  and  as  we  steamed 
away  we  saw  the  citizens  rush  down  and  take  posses- 


346  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

sion  of  the  stores  left  on  the  wharf.  During  the 
evening  and  night  we  were  fired  into  several  times 
from  the  shores,  but  these  attacks  were  returned  from 
the  gun-boat,  which  kepiTour  assailants  at  such  dis 
tance  that  their  shots  were  harmless.  "We  must  have 
no  lights  that  night,  and  the  fires  were  put  out  or  con 
cealed,  that  they  might  not  make  us  a  target.  So  I 
slept,  as  there  was  nothing  to  be  done,  but  in  the  morn 
ing  was  out  early  in  search  of  worms,  and  was  having 
good  success,  when  two  richly,  fashionably  dressed 
ladies  came  to  tell  me  there  was  to  be  nothing  to  eat, 
save  for  those  who  took  board  at  the  captain's  table. 
They  had  gone  to  the  kitchen  to  make  a  cup  of  tea  for 
a  wounded  officer,  and  were  ignominiously  driven  off 
by  the  cook.  "What  was  to  be  done?  We  might  be 
ten  days  getting  to  Washington. 

I  went  in  search  of  a  surgeon  in  charge,  and  found 
one  in  bed,  sick;  waited  at  his  door  until  he  joined  me, 
when  together  we  saw  the  captain  of  the  boat.  There 
were  two  new  cook-stoves  on  board,  but  to  put  one 
up  would  be  to  forfeit  the  insurance.  There  were 
plenty  of  commissary  stores.  The  surgeon  went  with 
me,  ordered  the  commissary  to  give  me  anything  I 
wanted,  and  went  back  to  bed.  Our  stores  consisted 
of  crackers,  coffee,  dried-apples,  essence  of  beef,  and 
salt  pork  in  abundance,  a  little  loaf  bread,  and  about 
half  a  pound  of  citric  acid.  Of  these  only  the  crackers 
and  bread  could  be  eaten  without  being  cooked. 
There  wrere  four  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  men — all 
bad  cases,  all  exhausted  from  privation.  How  many 
of  them  would  live  to  reach  Washington  on  a  diet  of 
crackers  and  water?  I  went  to  the  cook,  a  large,  sen- 


TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FREDEKICKSBURG.     347 

sible  colored  woman,  and  stated  the  case  as  well  as  I 
could.  After  hearing  it  she  said: 

"I  see  how  it  is;  but  you  see  all  these  officers  and 
ladies  are  agoin'  to  board  with  the  captain,  an'  I  '11 
have  a  sight  o'  cooking  to  do.  I  can't  have  none  of 
those  fine  ladies  comin'  a  botherin'  around  me,  carrjin' 
off  my  things  or  upsettin'  '  em.  But  I'll  tell  you 
what  I'll  do;  I'll  hurry  up  my  work  and  dare  off 
my  things;  then  you  can  have  the  kitchen,  you  an'  that 
young  lady  that's  with  you;  but  them  women,  with 
their  hoops  an '  their  flounces,  must  stay  out  o  '  here!" 

It  was  hard  to  see  how  two  of  them  would  get  into 
that  small  domain,  a  kitchen  about  ten  feet  square, 
half  filled  by  a  cook-stove,  shelves,  and  the  steep,  nar 
row,  open  stairs  which  led  to  the  upper  deck;  but 
what  a  kingdom  that  little  kitchen  was  to  me!  All 
the  utensils  leaked,  but  cook  helped  me  draw  rags 
through  the  holes  in  the  three  largest  which  I  was  to 
have,  and  which  covered  the  top  of  the  stove.  There 
were  plenty  of  new  wooden  buckets  and  tin  dippers 
on  board  as  freight,  some  contraband  women,  and  an 
active  little  man,  who  had  once  been  a  cook's  assis 
tant.  He  and  the  women  were  glad  to  work  for  food. 
He  was  to  help  me  in  the  kitchen.  They  worked  out 
side,  and  must  not  get  in  the  way  of  the  crew.  They 
washed  dried  apples  and  put  them  to  soak  in  buckets, 
pounded  crackers  in  bags  and  put  the  crumbs  into 
buckets,  making  each  one  a  third  full  and  covering 
them  with  cold  water.  I  put  a  large  piece  of  salt 
pork  into  my  largest  boiler,  added  water  and  beef  es 
sence  enough  to  almost  fill  the  boiler,  seasoned  it,  and 
as  soon  as  it  reached  boiling  point  had  it  ladled  into 


348  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

the  backets  with  the  cracker-crumbs,  and  sent  for  dis 
tribution.  The  second  boiler  was  kept  busy  cooking 
dried  apples,  into  which  I  put  citric  acid  and  sugar, 
for  gangrene  prevailed  among  the  wounds.  In  the 
third  boiler  1  made  coffee;  I  kept  it  a-soak,  and  as 
soon  as  it  boiled  I  put  it  strong  into  buckets,  one-third 
full  of  cold  water.  I  kept  vessels  in  the  oven  and  on 
the  small  spaces  on  top  of  the  stove.  My  little  man 
fired  up  like  a  fire-king,  another  man  laid  plenty  of 
wood  at  hand;  and  I  think  that  was  the  only  cook- 
stove  that  was  ever  "  run  "  to  its  full  capacity  for  a 
week.  By  so  running  it,  I  could  give  every  man  a 
pint  of  warm  soup  and  one  of  warm  coffee  every 
twenty-four  hours.  To  do  this,  everything  must  "come 
to  time." 

"When  one  piece  of  pork  was  cooked,  it  was 'cut  into 
small  pieces  and  distributed,  and  another  put  into  the 
boiler.  During  our  cooking  times  I  usually  sat  on  the 
stairs,  where  I  could  direct  and  be  out  of  the  way; 
and  to  improve  the  time,  often  had  a  plate  and  cup 
from  which  I  ate  and  drank.  Cook  always  saved  me 
something  nice,  and  I  made  tea  for  myself.  I  was  run 
ning  my  body  as  I  did  the  cook  stove,  making  it  do  quad 
ruple  duty,  and  did  not  spare  the  fuel  in  either  case. 
Around  each  foot,  below  the  instep,  I  had  a  broad, 
firm  bandage,  one  above  each  ankle  and  one  below 
each  knee.  If  soldiers  on  the  march  had  adopted  this 
precaution,  they  would  have  escaped  the  swollen  limbs 
so  often  distressing.  I  also  had  each  knee  covered  by 
several  layers  of  red  flannel,  to  protect  them  while  I 
knelt  on  damp  places.  Soon  after  going  into  Camp 
bell,  I  discovered  that  muscles  around  the  bone  will 


TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FKEDERICKSBUKG. 

do  double  service  if  held  firmly  in  place,  and  so  was 
enabled  in  all  my  hospital  work,  to  do  what  seemed 
miraculous  to  the  most  experienced  surgeons. 

I  rested  every  moment  I  could,  never  stood  when  I 
might  sit,  made  no  useless  motions,  spent  no  strength 
in  sorrow,  had  no  sentiment,  was  simply  the  engineer 
of  a  machine — my  own  body;  could  fall  asleep  soon  as 
I  lay  down,  and  wake  any  moment  with  my  senses  all 
alert,  outlived  my  prejudice  about  china  cups,  and 
drank  tea  from  brown  earthen  mugs  used  for  soup, 
and  never  washed  save  in  cold  water;  often  ate  from  a 
tin  plate  with  my  left  hand,  while  my  right  held  a 
stump  to  prevent  that  jerking  of  the  nerves  which  is  so 
agonizing  to  the  patient,  many  a  time  eating  from  the 
same  tin  plate  with  my  patient,  and  making  merry  over 
it;  and- think  I  must  have  outstanding  engagements 
to  dance  cotillions  with  one  hundred  one-legged  men. 

One  day  while  I  sat  eating  and  watching,  that  just 
enough  cans  of  beef  were  put  into  each  boiler  of  broth, 
and  no  time  wasted  by  letting  it  stand  after  reaching 
boiling  point,  a  surgeon  asked  to  see  me  at  the  kitchen 
door.  He  informed  me  that  np  on  the  forecastle, 
some  men  had  had  soup  twice  while  those  in  some 
other  place  had  had  none.  He  evidently  wished  to  be 
lenient,  but  felt  that  I  had  been  guilty  of  great  neg 
lect.  I  heard  his  grievance,  and  said : 

"  Doctor,  how  many  of  you  surgeons  are  on  this 
boat?" 

After  some  consideration  he  answered: 

"Four!" 

"  Four  surgeons!"  I  repeated,  "beside  the  surgeon 
in  charge,  who  is  sick!  "We  have  four  hundred  and 


350  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

fifty  wounded  men !  I  draw  all  the  rations,  find  a  way 
to  cook  them,  have  them  cooked  and  put  into  the 
buckets,  ready  for  distribution.  Do  you  not  think 
that  3^011  four  could  organize  a  force  to  see  that  they 
are  honestly  distributed — or  do  you  expect  me  to  be 
in  the  kitchen,  up  in  the  forecastle,  and  at  the  stern 
on  the  boiler  deck,  at  one  and  the  same  time?  Doctor, 
could  you  not  take  turns  in  amusing  those  ladies? 
Could  they  not  spare  two  of  you  for  duty  2" 

I  heard  no  more  complaints,  but  left  Miss  Grey 
more  in  charge  of  the  kitchen,  and  did  enough  medi 
cal  inspecting  to  know  that  I  had  been  unjust.  Some 
of  the  surgeons  had  been  on  duty,  and  the  men  were 
not  so  much  neglected  as  I  had  feared.  As  for  the 
ladies,  I  do  not  know  how  many  there  were  of  them, 
but  they  were  of  good  social  position — quite  as  good 
as  the  average  of  those  whose  main  object  in  life  is  to 
look  as  much  better  than  their  neighbors  as  circum 
stances  will  admit.  There  was  on  board  one  of  those 
folks  for  whose  existence  Christianity  is  responsible, 
and  which  sensible  Hindoos  reduce  to  their  original 
elements,  viz. :  a  widow  who  gets  a  living  by  being  pi 
ous,  and  is  respectable  through  sheer  force  of  cheap 
finery;  one  who  estimates  herself  by  her  surroundings, 
and  whose  every  word  and  look  and  motion  is  an  apol 
ogy  for  her  existence.  She  was  a  Dix,  or  paid  nurse. 
The  ladies  snubbed  her;  we  had  no  room  for  her 
hoops;  and  she  spent  her  time  in  odd  corners,  taking 
care  of  them  and  her  hair,  and  turning  up  her  eyes, 
like  a  duck  in  a  thunder-storm,  under  the  impression 
that  it  looked  devotional.  If  I  had  killed  all  the  folks 
I  have  felt  like  killing,  she  would  have  gone  from  that 
boat  to  her  final  rest 


TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FREDERICKSBURG.     351 

One  night  about  eleven  o'clock  a  strange  surgeon, 
who  had  just  come  aboard  with  twenty  wounded, 
came  to  the  kitchen  door,  and  handed  in  a  requisition 
for  tea  and  custard  and  chicken  for  his  men.  The 
man  told  him  he  could  have  nothing  but  cracker-broth 
or  coffee.  lie  was  very  indignant,  and  proceeded  to 
get  up  a  scene;  but  the  man  said,  firmly: 

"  Can  't  help  it,  Surgeon !     That 's  the  orders!" 

"  Orders !     Whose  orders  ? " 

I  got  down  from  my  perch  on  the  stairs,  came  for 
ward  and  said: 

"It  is  my  orders,  sir,  and  I  am  sorry,  but  this  is 
really  all  we  can  do  for  you.  If  your  men  have  tin 
cups,  each  one  can  have  a  cup  of  warm  soup — it  will 
not  be  very  hot — or  a  cup  of  warm  coffee.  Those  who 
get  soup  will  get  no  coffee,  and  those  who  get  coffee 
can  have  no  soup.  You  can  get  tin  cups  from  the 
commissary,  and  should  have  them  ready,  so  that  the 
food  will  not  cool." 

"While  I  made  this  statement  he  stood  regarding  me 
with  ineffable  disdain,  and  when  I  was  through  in 
quired  : 

"Who  are  you?" 

"I  am  the  cook!" 

"  The  cook!"  he  repeated,  contemptuously.  "  I  will 
report  your  insolence  when  we  reach  Washington!" 

"That  may  be  your  duty;  but  I  will  send  up  the 
coffee  and  soup,  and  do  you  get  the  tin  cups." 

He  stamped  off  in  dudgeon,  and  others  who  heard 
him  were  highly  indignant;  but  I  was  greatly  pleased 
to  find  a  surgeon  who  would  get  angry  and  raise  a  dis 
turbance  on  behalf  of  his  patients.  I  never  knew  his 


352  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

name,  but  if  this  should  meet  his  eye  I  trust  he  will 
accept  my  thanks  for  his  faithfulness  to  his  charge. 

On  the  lower  deck,  behind  the  boilers,  lay  twenty 
wounded  prisoners,  who  at  first  looked  sulky;  but  as 
I  was  stepping  over  and  among  them,  one  caught  my 
dress,  looked  up  pleadingly,  and  said: 

"Mother,  can't  you  get  me  some  soft  bread?  I 
can  't  eat  this  hard-tack." 

He  was  young,  scarce  more  than  a  boy;  had  large, 
dark  eyes,  a  good  head — tokens  of  gentle  nurtn  re — and 
alas!  a  thigh  stump.  He  told  me  he  was  of  a  Missis 
sippi  regiment,  and  his  name  Willie  Gibbs.  I  bathed 
his  hot  face,  and  said  I  would  see  about  the  bread ; 
then  went  to  another  part  of  the  deck,  where  our  men 
were  very  closely  packed,  and  stated  the  case  to  them. 
There  was  very  little  soft  bread — it  was  theirs  by  right; 
what  should  I  do?  I  think  they  all  spoke  at  once,  and 
all  said  the  same  words: 

"  Oh,  mother!  give  the  Johnnies  the  soft  bread!  we 
can  eat  hard-tack!" 

I  think  I  was  impartial,  but  there  was  a  temptation 
to  give  Willie  Gibbs  a  little  more  than  his  share  of 
attention.  His  face  was  so  sad,  and  there  was  so  lit 
tle  hope  that  he  would  ever  again  see  those  who  loved 
him,  that  I  think  I  did  more  for  him  than  for  any  other 
one  on  board.  His  companions  came  to  call  me 
"  mother,"  and  I  hope  felt  their  captivity  softened  by 
my  care;  and  often  rebel  hands  supported  me  while  I 
crouched  at  work. 

When  we  approached  Washington,  I  proposed  re 
warding  the  cook  for  the  incalculable  service  she  had 
rendered,  but  she  replied: 


TAKE  FINAL  LEAVE  OF  FREDEKICKSBUKG.     353 

"  No,  ma'am,  I  will  not  take  anything  from  you? 
'cept  tli at  apron !  "When  we  get  to  Washington,  you 
will  not  want  it  any  more,  an'  I'll  keep  it  all  my  life 
to  remember  you,  and  leave  it  to  my  children!  Lord! 
there  isn't  another  lady  in  the  world  could  'a  done 
what  you've  done;  an'  I  know  you're  a  lady!  Them 
women  with  the  fine  clothes  is  trying  to  pass  for 
ladies,  but,  Lord!  I  know  no  lady  'u'd  dress  up  that 
way  in  a  place  like  this,  an'  men  know  it,  too — just 
look  at  you,  an'  how  you  do  make  them  fellers  in 
shoulderstraps  stand  'round!" 

Her  observation  showed  her  Southern  culture,  for 
whatever  supremacy  the  North  may  have  over  the 
South,  Southern  ladies  are  far  in  advance  of  those  of 
the  North  in  the  art  of  dress.  A  Southern  lady  sel 
dom  commits  an  incongruity,  or  fails  to  dress  accord 
ing  to  age,  weather,  and  the  occasion.  I  do  not  think 
any  one  of  any  social  standing  would  have  gone 
among  wounded  men,  with  the  idea  of  rendering  any 
assistance,  tricked  out  in  finery,  as  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands,  of  respectable  Northern  women  did. 

The  apron  which  I  gave  to  my  friend  the  cook,  was 
brown  gingham,  had  seen  hard  service,  and  cost,  ori 
ginally,  ten  cents,  and  half  an  hour's  hand-sewing; 
but  if  it  aids  her  to  remember  me  as  pleasantly  as  I 
do  her,  it  is  part  of  a  bond  of  genuine  friendship. 


354  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER    LXXYII. 

TRY  TO  GET  UP  A  SOCIETY  AND  GET  SICK. 

AFTER  two  days  in  bed  at  home,  I  was  so  much  bet 
ter,  that  when  Mrs.  Ingersol  came  with  a  plan  for  or 
ganizing  a  society  to  furnish  the  army  with  female 
nurses,  I  went  to  see  Mrs.  Lincoln  about  it.  She 
was  willing  to  cooperate,  and  I  wrent  to  Secretary 
Stanton,  who  heard  me,  and  replied: 

"  You  must  know  that  Mrs.  Barlow  and  Mrs.  In 
gersol  and  you  are  not  fair  representatives  of  your 
sex,"  and  went  on  to  explain  the  embarrassment  of 
the  Surgeon-General  from  the  thousands  of  women 
pressing  their  services  upon  the  Government,  and  the 
various  political  influences  brought  to  bear  on  behalf 
of  applicants,  and  of  the  well  grounded  opposition  of 
surgeons  to  the  presence  of  women  in  hospitals,  on 
account  of  their  general  unfitness.  Gen.  Scott,  as  a 
personal  friend  of  Miss  Dix,  had  appointed  her  to  the 
place  she  held,  and  it  was  so  convenient  and  respect 
ful  to  refer  people  to  her,  that  the  War  Department 
would  not  interfere  with  the  arrangement.  In  other 
words,  she  was  a  break-water  against  which  feminine 
sympathies  could  dash  and  splash  without  submerg 
ing  the  hospital  service. 

After  what  I  had  seen  among  the  women  who  had 
succeeded  in  getting  in,  I  had  not  much  to  say.  A 
society  might  prescribe  a  dress,  but  might  be  no 
more  successful  than  Miss  Dix  in  making  selections 
of  those  who  should  wear  it. 

I  asked  the  Secretary  how  it  came  that  no  better 


TRY  TO  GET  UP  A  SOCIETY  AND  GET  SICK.     355 

provision  had  been  made  for  our  wounded  after  the 
battle  of  the  Wilderness,  and  tears  sprang  to  his  eyes 
as  he  replied: 

"  We  did  not  know  where  they  were.  We  had  made 
every  arrangement  at  the  points  designated  by  Gen. 
Grant,  but  he  changed  his  plans  and  did  not  notify  us. 
The  whole  army  was  cut  off  from  its  base  of  supplies 
and  must  be  sustained.  As  soon  as  we  knew  the  emer 
gency,  we  did  everything  in  our  power;  but  all  our 
preparations  were  lost.  Everything  had  to  be  done 
over  again.  You  cannot  regret  the  suffering  more  than 
1,  but  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  prevent  it." 

I  never  saw  him  so  earnest,  so  sorrowful,  so  deeply 
moved. 

That  effort  seemed  to  be  the  straw  which  broke  the 
camel's  back,  and  I  was  so  ill  as  to  demand  medical 
attendance.  For  this  I  sent  to  Campbell.  Dr.  Kelly 
came,  but  his  forte  was  surgery,  and  my  case  was  left 
with  Dr.  True,  who  had  had  longer  practice  in  medi 
cine.  They  both  decided  that  I  had  been  inoculated 
with  gangrene  while  dressing  wounds,  and  for  some 
weeks  I  continued  to  sink.  I  began  to  think  my  ill 
ness  fatal,  and  asked  the  doctor,  who  said: 

"I  have  been  thinking  I  ought  to  tell  you  that  if 
you  have  any  unsettled  business  you  should  attend  to 
it." 

I  had  a  feeling  of  being  generally  distributed  over 
the  bed,  of  being  a  mass  of  pulp  without  any  central 
force,  but  I  had  had  a  letter  that  day  from  my  daughter, 
who  was  with  her  father  and  grandmother  in  Swissvale, 
and  wanted  to  come  to  me,  and  the  thought  came: 
"  Does  God  mean  to  make  niy  child  an  orphan,  that 


356  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

others  may  receive  their  children  by  my  death  ? "  Then 
I  had  a  strange  sensation  of  a  muster,  a  gathering  of 
scattered  life-force,  and  when  it  all  came  together  it 
made  a  protest ;  I  signed  to  the  doctor,  who  put  his  ear 
to  my  lips,  and  I  said : 

"  Doctor  True,  I  shall  live  to  be  an  hundred  and 
twenty  years  old !  " 

He  took  up  the  lamp,  threw  the  light  on  my  face, 
and  peered  anxiously  into  it,  and  I  looked  straight  into 
his  eyes,  and  said: 

"I  will!" 

He  laughed  and  set  down  the  lamp,  saying: 

"Then  you  must  get  over  this! " 

"  You  must  get  me  over  it.     Bring  Dr.  Kelly! " 

Next  morning,  I  had  them  carry  me  into  a  larger 
room,  where  the  morning  sun  shone  on  me,  and  ten 
days  after,  started  for  Pennsylvania,  where  I  spent 
three  weeks  with  my  old  Swissvale  neighbors,  Col. 
Hawkins  and  Wm.  S.  Haven. 

When  I  returned  to  Washington,  I  found  an  official 
document,  a  recommendation  from  the  Quarter-Master 
General,  of  my  dismissal  for  absence  without  leave.  It 
was  addressed  to  Secretary  Stan  ton,  who  had  written 
on  the  outside: 

"  Respectfully  referred  to  Mrs.  Swisshelm,  by  Ed 
win  M.  Stanton." 

I  went  back  to  work,  and  learned  that  Mrs.  Gen. 
Barlow  had  died  of  typhoid  fever,  in  Washington. 
ISTo  man  died  more  directly  for  the  Government. 
Thousands  who  fell  on  the  battle-field,  exhibited  less 
courage  and  devotion  to  that  service,  and  did  less  to 
to  secure  its  success.  1  know  not  where  her  bodv  lies, 


AN  EFFICIENT  XUBSE.  357 

but  wherever  it  does,  no  decoration-day  should  pass  in 
which  her  memory  is  not  crowned  with  immortelles. 

She  died  at  a  time  when  my  life  was  despaired  of, 
and  when  Mrs.  Ingersol  wrote  to  a  Maine  paper  of  my 
illness,  adding: 

"  I  hope  the  Lord  will  not  take  her  away,  until  He 
has  made  another  like  her." 

She  told  me  afterwards  that  just  then  she  held  the 
world  at  a  grudge;  but  it  must  have  been  relieved  of 
rny  presence  long  ere  this,  if  I  had  not  found  in 
homoapathy  relief  from  pain,  which  for  eight  months 
made  life  a  burden,  and  for  which  the  best  old-school 
physicians  proposed  no  cure. 

CHAPTER   LXXYIII. 

AN  EFFICIENT  NUBSE. 

To  SHOW  the  capabilities  of  some  of  the  women  who 
thought  they  had  a  mission  for  saving  the  country 
by  acting  as  hospital  nurses,  I  give  the  history  of  one. 

While  I  lay  ill,  a  friend  came  and  told  of  a  most 
excellent  woman  who  had  come  from  afar,  and  ten 
dered  her  services  to  the  Government,  who  had  exerted 
much  influence  and  spent  much  effort  to  get  into  a 
hospital  as  nurse,  but  had  failed. 

Hearing  of  my  illness,  her  desire  to  be  useful  led  her 
to  tender  her  services,  so  that  if  she  could  not  nurse 
wounded  soldiers  she  could  nurse  one  who  had.  The 
generous  offer  was  accepted,  and  I  was  left  an  after 
noon  in  her  care. 

I  wanted  a  cup  of  tea.     She  went  to  the  kitchen  to 


358  HALF  A  CENTTJKY. 

make  it,  and  one  hour  after  came  up  with  a  cup  of 
tea,  only  this  and  nothing  more,  save  a  saucer.  To 
taste  the  tea  I  must  have  a  spoon,  and  to  get  one  she 
must  go  along  a  hall,  down  a  long  flight  of  stairs, 
through  another  hall  and  the  kitchen,  to  the  pantry. 
When  she  had  made  the  trip  the  tea  was  so  much  too 
strong  that  a  spoonful  would  have  made  a  cup.  She 
went  down  again  for  hot  water,  and  after  she  had  got 
to  the  kitchen  remembered  that  she  had  thrown  it  out, 
thinking  it  would  not  be  wanted.  The  fire  had  gone 
out,  and  she  came  up  to  inquire  if  she  should  make  a 
new  one,  and  if  so,  where  she  should  find  kindling? 
She  had  spent  almost  two  hours  running  to  and  fro, 
was  all  in  perspiration  and  a  fluster,  had  done  me  a 
great  deal  of  harm  and  nobody  any  good,  had  wasted 
all  the  kindlings  for  the  evening  fire,  enough  tea  to 
have  served  a  large  family  for  a  meal,  and  fairly  illus 
trated  a  large  part  of  the  hospital  service  rendered  by 
women  oppressed  with  the  nursing  mission. 

My  sense  of  relief  was  inexpressible  when  Mrs. 
George  B.   Lincoln  returned  from   her  visit  to  the 

O 

White  House,  sent  my  tea-maker  away  and  took  charge 
of  me  once  more. 


CHAPTER  LXXIX. 

TWO   FKEDERICKSBTJKG   PATIENTS. 

SOME  months  after  leaving  Fredricksburg,  I  was 
walking  on  Pennsylvania  avenue,  when  the  setting 
sun  shone  in  my  face,  and  a  man  in  uniform  stopped 
me,  saying: 


Two  FKEDEKICKSBURG  PATIENTS.  359 

"Excuse  me!  von  do  not  know  me,  but  I  know 
you!" 

I  turned,  looked  at  him  carefully,  and  said: 

"  I  do  not  know  you!  " 

"  Oh,  no!  but  the  last  time  you  saw  me,  you  cut  off 
my  beard  with  your  scissors  and  fed  me  with  a  tea 
spoon.  When  you  left  me  you  did  not  think  you 
would  ever  see  me  again." 

"  Oh!"  I  exclaimed  joyfully,  "you  are  Button." 

He  laughed,  and  replied,  "  That's  me.  I  have  just 
got  a  furlough  and  am  going  home." 

He  was  very  pale  and  thin,  but  I  was  so  glad  to  see 
him  and  shake  hands,  and  wish  him  safety  home  with 
his  friends. 

During  the  great  review  after  the  war,  I  had  a  seat 
near  the  President's  stand.  There  was  a  jam,  and  a 
man  behind  me  called  my  attention  to  a  captain,  at  a 
short  distance,  who  had  something  to  say  to  me,  and 
passed  along  the  words: 

"  You  took  care  of  me  on  the  boat  coming  from 
Fredericksburg." 

Looking  across,  I  could  see  him  quite  well,  but  even 
when  his  hat  was  off  could  not  recognize  him;  and 
this  is  all  I  have  ever  heard  from  or  of  the  men  with 
whose  lives  mine  was  so  knit  during  that  terrible 
time. 

I  fear  that  not  many  survived,  and  doubt  if  a  dozen 
of  them  ever  knew  me  by  any  other  name  than  that 
of  «  Mother." 


360  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

CHAPTER   LXXX. 

AM  ENLIGHTENED. 

WHEN  Early  appeared  before  Washington,  we  all 
knew  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  his  coining  in  and 
taking  possession.  The  forts  were  stripped.  There 
were  no  soldiers  either  in  or  around  the  city.  The 
original  inhabitants  were  ready  to  welcome  him  with 
open  arms.  The  departments  were  closed,  that  the 
clerks  might  go  out  in  military  array,  to  oppose;  but 
of  course  few  soldiers  were  sitting  at  desks  at  that 
stage  of  the  war.  The  news  at  the  Quartermaster's 
office  one  morning  was  that  the  foreign  ministers  had 
been  notified,  and  that  the  city  would  be  shelled  that 
afternoon.  We  lived  on  the  north  side  of  the  city; 
and  when  I  went  home,  thousands  of  people  were  on 
the  streets,  listening  to  the  sound  of  guns  at  Fort 
Reno. 

So  far  as  I  knew,  there  was  a  universal  expectation 
that  the  city  would  be  occupied  by  rebel  troops  that 
night.  As  this  was  in  harmony  with  the  general  ten 
or  of  my  anticipations  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  I 
readily  shared  in  the  popular  opinion,  and  for  once 
was  with  the  majority. 

Among  the  groups  who  stood  in  the  streets  were 
many  contrabands,  and  their  faces  were  pitiful  to  see. 
One  scantily-clad  woman,  holding  a  ragged  infant,  and 
with  two  frightened,  ragged  children  clinging  to  her 
skirts,  stood  literally  quaking.  Her  black  face  had 
turned  gray  with  terror,  and  she  came  to  me  and 
asked  : 


AM  ENLIGHTENED.  361 

"  Oh!  Missus!  does  ye  tink  dey  will  get  in?" 

Suddenly  my  eyes  were  opened,  like  those  of  the 
prophet's  servant  when  he  saw  the  horses  and  chariots 
of  fire,  and  I  replied: 

"No!  never!  They  will  come  no  nearer  than  they 
now  are!  You  can  go  home  and  rest  in  peace,  for 
you  are  just  as  safe  from  them  as  if  you  were  in 
heaven!" 

She  was  greatly  comforted;  but  a  gentleman  said, 
as  she  moved  away: 

"  I  wish  I  could  share  your  opinion;  but  what  is  to 
hinder  their  coming  in?  " 

"God  is  to  hinder!  He  has  appointed  us  to  rescue 
these  people.  They  are  collected  here  in  thousands, 
and  the  prayers  of  centuries  are  to  be  answered  now!" 

I  myself  went  home  feeling  all  the  confidence  I 
spoke,  and  wondering  I  could  have  been  so  stupid  as 
to  doubt.  Our  Government  and  people  were  very  im 
perfect,  but  had  developed  a  sublime  patriotism — 
made  an  almost  miraculous  growth  in  good.  Ten 
righteous  men  would  have  saved  Sodom.  We  had  ten 
thousand;  and  I  must  think  there  are  few  histories  of 
supernatural  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  Jews 
more  difficult  to  account  for,  on  merely  natural 
grounds,  than  the  preservation  of  "Washington  in  that 
crisis. 


362  HALF  A  CENTURY. 


CONCLUSION. 

DECEMBER  6th,  1865,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  my 
birth,  found  me  in  Washington,  at  work  in  the  Quar 
ter-Master's  office,  on  a  salary  of  sixty  dollars  a  month, 
without  any  provision  for  support  in  old  age;  and  so 
great  a  sufferer  as  never  to  have  a  night  of-  rest  un 
broken  by  severe  pain,  but  with  my  interest  in  a  coun 
try  rescued  from  the  odium  of  Southern  slavery,  and  a 
faint  light  breaking  of  the  day  which  is  yet  to  abolish 
that  of  the  "West. 

In  the  summer  of '66,  Dr.  King,  of  Pittsburg,  came 
to  know  what  I  would  take  for  my  interest  in  ten  acres 
of  the  Swissvale  estate,  which  he  had  purchased.  My 
deed  had  presented  a  barrier  to  the  sale  of  a  portion  of 
it,  and  he  was  in  trouble: 

I  consulted  Secretary  Stan  ton,  who  said: 

"Your  title  to  that  property  is  good  against  the 
world!" 

It  had  become  valuable  and  the  idea  of  its  owner 
ship  was  alarming!  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to 
poverty,  had  been  discharged  from  the  Quarter-Mas 
ter's  office  by  special  order  of  President  Johnson,  "  for 
speaking  disrespectfully  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States !" —  Washington  Star — was  the  first  person  dis 
missed  by  Mr.  Johnson;  was  without  visible  means  of 
support,  could  not  suddenly  adjust  my  thought  to  any 
thing  so  foreign  to  all  my  plans  as  coming  into  pos 
session  of  a  valuable  estate,  and  said: 

"  Oh,  Secretary  Stanton,  how  shall  I  ever  undertake 
such  a  stewardship  at  my  time  of  life?"  He  looked 
sternly  at  me,  and  replied: 


CONCLUSION.  363 

"  Mrs.  Swisshelm,  don't  be  a  fool!  take  care  of  your 
self!  It  is  time  yon  would  begin.  The  property  is 
yours  now.  You  are  morally  responsible  for  it,  and 
can  surely  make  some  better  use  of  it  than  giving  it 
away  to  rich  men  around  Pittsburg.  Go  at  once  and 
attend  to  your  interests." 

This  was  our  last  interview.  I  instituted  the  suit 
he  advised,  and  he  would  have  plead  my  cause  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  but  when  it  came  up  he  was 
holding  possession  of  the  War  Department  to  defeat 
President  Johnson's  policy  of  making  the  South  tri 
umphant.  However,  the  decree  of  the  court  was  in 
my  favor,  and  through  it  I  have  been  able  to  rescue 
the  old  log  block-house  from  the  tooth  of  decay,  and 
to  sit  in  it  and  recall  those  passages  of  life  with  which 
it  is  so  intimately  connected. 


It  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  scholar  and  of  every  school 
boy." — Saturday  Review,  London. 


Tales  of  Ancient  Greece. 

BY  THE  EEV.  SIR  G.  W.  COX,  BART.,  M.A., 
Trinity  College,  Oxford. 

12mo.,  extra  cloth,  black  and  gilf,        .          .          .        Price,  $1.5O* 


"  Written  apparently  for  young  readers,  it  yet  possesses  a  charm  of 
manner  which  will  recommend  it  to  all."— The  Examiner,  London. 

"  It  is  only  when  we  take  up  such  a  book  as  this,  that  we  realize  how 
rich  in  interest  is  the  mythology  of  Greece."— Inquirer,  Philadelphia. 

"  Admirable  in  style,  and  level  with  a  child's  comprehension.  These 
versions  might  well  find  a  place  in  every  family."— The  Nation,  New  York. 

"  The  author  invests  these  stories  with  a  charm  of  narrative  entirely 
peculiar.  The  book  is  a  rich  one  in  every  way."— Standard,  Chicago. 

"  In  Mr.  Cox  will  be  found  yet  another  name  to  be  enrolled  among 
those  English  writers  who  have  vindicated  for  this  country  an  honorable 
rank  in  the  investigation  of  Greek  history."— Edinburgh  Review. 

"  It  is  doubtful  if  these  tales,  antedating  history  in  their  origin,  and  yet 
fresh  with  all  the  charms  of  youth  to  all  who  read  them  for  the  first  time, 
were  ever  before  presented  in  so  chaste  and  popular  form."— Golden  Rule, 
Boston. 

"  The  grace  with  which  these  old  tales  of  the  mythology  are  re-told 
makes  them  as  enchanting  to  the  young  as  familiar  fairy  tales,  or  the 
'  Arabian  Nights.'  *  *  *  We  do  not  know  of  a  Christmas  book  which 
promises  more  lasting  pleasures."— Publishers'  Weekly. 

"  Its  exterior  fits  it  to  adorn  the  drawing-room  table,  while  its  contents 
are  adapted  to  the  entertainment  of  the  most  cultivated  intelligence.  * 

*  *  The  book  is  a  scholarly  production,  and  a  welcome  addition  to  a 
department  of  literature  that  is  thus  far  quite  too  scantily  furnished."— 
Tribune,  Chicago. 

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SHORT  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE, 

FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 

BY  MISS  E.  S.  KIRKLAND. 

AUTHOB  OP  "SIX  LITTLE  COOKS,"  "DORA'S  HOUSEKEEPING,"  ETC. 


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"A  very  ably  written  sketch  of  French  history,  from  the  earliest  times 
to  the  foundation  of  the  existing  Republic  "—Cincinnati  Gazette. 

"  The  narrative  is  not  dry  on  a  single  page,  and  the  little  history  may 
be  commended  as  the  best  of  its  kind  that  has  yet  appeared."— Bulletin, 
Philadelphia. 

"A  book  both  instructive  and  entertaining.  It  is  not  a  dry  compen 
dium  of  dates  and  facts,  but  a  charmingly  written  history."— Christian 
Union,  New  York. 

"After  a  careful  examination  of  its  contents,  we  are  able  to  conscien 
tiously  give  it  our  heartiest  commendation.  We  know  no  elementary 
history  of  France  that  can  at  all  be  compared  with  it."— Living  Church. 

"A  spirited  and  entertaining  sketch  of  the  French  people  and  nation 
—one  that  will  seize  and  hold  the  attention  of  all  bright  boys  and  girls 
who  have  a  chance  to  read  it"— Sunday  Afternoon,  Springfield,  (Mass.) 

"  We  find  its  descriptions  universally  good,  that  it  is  admirably  simple 
and  direct  in  style,  without  waste  of  words  or  timidity  of  opinion.  The 
book  represents  a  great  deal  of  patient  labor  and  conscientious  study.'  — 
Courant,  Hartford,  Ct. 

"  Miss  Kirkland  has  composed  her  '  Short  History  of  France'  in  the 
way  in  which  a  history  for  young  people  ought  to  be  written ;  that  is,  she 
has  aimed  to  present  a  consecutive  and  agreeable  story,  from  which  the 
reader  can  not  only  learn  the  names  of  kings  and  the  succession  of 
events,  but  can  also  receive  a  vivid  and  permanent  impression  as  to  the 
characters,  modes  of  life,  and  the  spirit  of  different  periods."— The 
nation,  N.  Y. 

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TALES  FROM  FOREIGN  TONGUES, 

COMPRISING 

MEMORIES ;  ^  STORY  OP  GERMAN  LOVE. 

BY  MAX  MULLER. 

GRAZIELLA ;  A  STORY  OP  ITALIAN  LOVE. 

BY  A.  DE  LAMARTINE. 

MAKIE:    A  STORY  OP  RUSSIAN  LOVE. 

BY  ALEX.  PUSHKIN. 

MADELEINE ;  A  STORY  OF  FRENCH  LOVE. 

BY  JULES  SANDEAU. 


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Of  "Memories'1  the  London  Academy  says:  "It  is  a  prose  poem. 
*  *  It  is  seldom  that  a  powerful  intellect  produces  any 

work,  however  small,  that  does  not  bear  some  marks  of  its  special  bent, 
and  the  traces  of  research  and  philosophy  in  this  little  story  are  appar 
ent,  while  its  beauty  and  pathos  show  us  a  fresh  phase  of  a  many-sided 
mind,  10  which  we  already  owe  large  debts  of  gratitude." 

Of"  Graziella"  the  Chicago  Tribune  says :  "  It  glows  with  love  of  the 
beautiful  in  all  nature.  *  *  It  is  pure  literature,  a 

perfect  story,  couched  in  perfect  words.  The  sentences  have  the  rhythm 
and  flow,  the  sweetness  and  tender  fancy  of  the  original.  It  is  uniform 
with  '  Memories,'  and  it  should  stand  side  by  side  with  that  on  the 
shelves  of  every  lover  of  pure,  strong  thoughts,  put  in  pure,  strong 
woids.  '  Graziella'  is  a  book  to  be  loved." 

Of  "  Marie"  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  says:  "  This  is  a  Russian  love  tale, 
written  by  a  Russian  poet.  It  is  one  of  the  piirest,  sweetest  little  narra 
tives  that  we  have  read  for  a  long  time.  It  is  a  little  classic,  and  a  Russian 
classic,  too.  That  is  one  of  its  charms,  that  it  is  so  distinctively  Russian. 
We  catch  the  very  breezes  of  the  Steppes,  and  meet,  face  to  face,  the  high- 
souled,  simple-minded  Russian." 

Of " Madeleine"  the  New  York  Evening  Telegram  says:  "More  than 
thirty  years  ago  it  received  the  honor  of  a  prize  from  the  French 
Acad'emy  and  has  since  almost  become  a  French  classic.  It  abounds 
both  in  pathos  and  wit.  Above  all,  it  is  a  pure  story,  dealing  with  love 
of  the  most  exalted  kind.  It  is,  indeed,  a  wonder  that  a  tale  so  fresh,  so 
sweet,  so  pure  as  this  has  not  sooner  been  introduced  to  the  English- 
speaking  public." 

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This  book  places  its  author  at  once  among  the  'gifted  few.' " 

—Sat.  Eve.  Herald. 


BELLE  AND  THE  BOYS. 

BY  MRS.  CAROLINE  FAIRFIELD  CORBIN, 

AUTHOR  OF  "  REBECCA  J  OR,  A  WOMAN'S  SECRET." 


12  mo.,  248  Payes, Pricet  $1.25. 


"  A  brightly  written  story,  in  which  is  told  how  well  one  of  the  clearest 
headed,  sweetest  tempered  girls  of  sixteen,  took  care  of  her  younger 
brothers  in  the  absence  of  the  parents.  They  were  real  boys,  and  made 
her  a  deal  of  trouble,  but  the  result  was  a  triumph."— Springfield  (Mass.) 
Republican. 

"  Mrs.  Corbin  is  so  well  known  as  a  writer  of  more  than  ordinary  ability 
that  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  greet  any  effort  from  her  pen,  and  the 
young  people  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  read  this  story  have  a  rare  treat 
in  store.  Sure  are  we,  from  experience,  that  they  will  not  lay  the  book 
down  till  they  have  finished  it."— The  Interior. 

"  A  story  book  for  young  folks  which  shall  be  entertaining,  yet  free 
from  sensationalism,  and  sprightly  without  slang,  is  a  book  to  be  hailed 
with  pleasure  by  those  who  cater  for  the  young  folks.  Such  a  book  Mrs. 
Corbin  has  produced  in  '  Belle  and  the  Boys.'  We  cordially  commend 
the  book  as  one  that  will  both  charm  and  profit  the  young  folks."— Ihe 
Living  Church. 

"  There  is  such  a  vast  amount  of  trash  published  under  the  name  of 
juvenile  books,  that  it  is  refreshing  to  find  such  a  one  as  this  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  our  young  people.  *  *  *  It  seems  just  the  book  to  be 
appreciated  by  fair,  sweet  young  girls,  and  brave,  manly  boys.  Hand- 
somelyfprinted  and  illustrated,  it  is  one  of  the  prettiest  juvenile  books  of 
the  year." — Am.  Bookseller,  New  York. 

"  A  book  which  teaches  lessons  of  patience,  generosity  and  honesty  in 
a  charming  way.  The  story  is  told  with  vivacity  and  not  a  little  natural 
ness,  although  Belle  is  perhaps  a  little  too  womanly  for  her  age.  But  she 
is  such  a  winning  creature  that  we  easily  forgive  this  fault,  and  are  sure 
that  the  fine  tone  of  the  story  and  its  unobtrusive  lessons  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  wholesome  effect  on  young  readers."— Evening  Matt,  New  York. 

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'Unequalled  by  anything  of   the  kind  with  which   we  are   ac 
quainted." —  Christian  Advocate,  N,  Y, 


CHINOOK'S   CHOICE   EEADMS. 

FOE     PURLIC   AND    PRIVATE     ENTERTAINMENT.      ARRANGED    FOR   THE 
EXERCISES    OF   THE   SCHOOL  AND    COLLEGE  AND   PUBLIC   READER, 
WITH      ELOCUTIONARY      ADVICE.         EDITED     BY      ROBERT 
MO' LAIN     CUMNOCK,      A.     M.,     PROFESSOR     OF 
RHETORIC   AND   ELOCUTION,  NORTH 
WESTERN    UNIVERSITY. 


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"  It  ought  to  become  a  special  favorite  among  school  and  college 
students  and  public  readers."— Evening  Post,  New  York, 

"  Taking  into  account  the  admirable  type,  the  excellent  taste,  the 
brevity  of  the  rhetorical  counsels,  the  unsurpassed  variety,  we  prefer 
Prof.  Cumnock's  book  to  every  manual  of  the  kind."— Christ lan  Register, 
Boston. 

"Among  the  multitude  of  books  Issued  for  the  same  purpose  during 
the  past  ten  years,  we  know  of  none  so  complete  in  all  respects  and  so 
well  fitted  to  the  needs  of  the  elocutionist  as  the  volume  before  us."— 
Transcript,  Boston, 

"  No  choicer  casket  of  prose  and  poetry  has  been  given  to  us  by  any 
other  author.  These  are  the  culled  flowers  from  the  bouquet  of  litera 
ture.  They  are  of  every  nature  known  to  the  language,  and  each  is  of 
the  best  of  its  kind."— The  Post,  San  Francisco. 

"  Nearly  200  selections  from  the  best  prose  and  poetical  literature  of 
the  English  language  are  here  assembled  for  the  uses  of  the  student  of 
elocution.  *  *  *  The  collection  is  valuable  as  a  treasury  of 
literary  gems,  apart  from  its  worth  as  a  manual  of  declamation.'* — 
Tribune,  Chicago. 

"The  volume  consists  in  a  great  measure  of  fresh  specimens  that 
have  recently  found  their  way  into  current  literature,  and  present  the 
charm  of  novel tv  with  the  merit  of  good  writing.  The  ancient  stream  is 
thus  enriched  with  supplies  from  new  fountains,  and  living  productions 
take  the  place  of  the  veteran  pieces  which  have  grown  old  in  the  course 
of  protracted  service.  *  *  *  They  are  illustrations  of  the  best 
literature  of  the  day."—  Tribune,  New  York. 

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